Chapter 1 Themes and Issues in Adult Development and Aging As the opening chapter to the book, the material covered here provides the orientation to the course. There is enough material in this chapter to cover two to three lectures. During the first lecture, it is particularly important to provide students with a sense of excitement about the field. Reflect on your own enthusiasm for teaching this topic and, if appropriate, relate personal experiences that have led you to want to become involved in adult development and aging. It would also be useful to find out why students have chosen to taken the course, as it is quite likely that many of them are there for personal reasons as well. LECTURE GUIDELINES There is a logical break between the theoretical issues in the first part of the chapter and the demographic material presented at the end. The lecture on demography can begin with a discussion of current issues relevant to aging, such as the effect on the population of the "graying of America". A discussion of the "Baby Boomers" would also be interesting, as many of the students have parents, or possibly grandparents, in this generation. You can also encourage students to contrast their views about Baby Boomers with “Millennials,” “Gen-X’ers,” and the like. Ask them if they believe that generational labels are helpful in understanding the behavior of individuals. VIDEOS AND FILMS There are many potentially relevant materials to include in the lectures based on this chapter. Keep your eyes open for news items that concern aging in the U.S., Canada, and the world relevant to the economy, social trends, and population dynamics. Non-stereotypic older adults can also be shown to counter negative representations that students may have such as older persons engaging in activities that would not normally be associated with aging. There are two excellent films by PBS: “The Way We Get By” (http://www.pbs.org/pov/waywegetby/) and Frontline “Living Old” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/view/). Because there are many statistics to summarize in the demography section, it is helpful to provide anything that will put a human face to the numbers. There is an excellent series available on YouTube divided into five parts, called “The World’s Oldest People”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjd8_9dtLHo DISCUSSION QUESTIONS THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE Why is the biopsychosocial perspective important? How does the material in this course relate to other courses that you have taken which employ an interdisciplinary perspective? FOUR PRINCIPLES OF ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING Do you feel that you are a different person than you were when you were younger?