ABSTRACT
Recent demands for extending educational opportunities to the later phases of the life cycle have created new and unprecedented needs for educators, who are consequently searching for data and theory to answer their questions as they attempt to design sound, specialized programs for older learners. It is my purpose in this chapter to explore some possible answers from my perspective as a psychologist interested in life-span developmental processes. On the one hand, given the interdisciplinary nature of the problem, my perspective may well be somewhat limited; on the other hand, such a life-span view may also serve to broaden our understanding of the problem. A primary focus on processes of development may force us to examine any answers, not merely from the vantage point of how currently available research can be translated into classroom applications, but also with the superordinate goal in mind of understanding all those interactions of elderly people with each other, with other strata of society, and even with researchers, and of understanding as well the ways in which those interactions may serve to enhance or dampen cognitive competence in later life.
