Program Description
cognitive impairments, dementia, physical disability
PHYSICAL DISABILITY
To participate in the Intergenerational Classroom (iGen) program, students across the Saskatoon public school district apply in their 5th grade year and a lottery is held to randomly select 25 participants from this large pool of applicants (approximately 150). In iGen, like all students in the 6th grade, students are taught the standard curriculum. However, each day during the school year, students interact closely with the senior care residents—colloquially referred to as “Elders”—who help facilitate the students’ learning alongside the teachers and Sherbrooke Community staff. Critically, across these interactions, students engage in both structured and spontaneous forms of prosocial action. For example, students can help Elders plant vegetables and flowers in the community garden or participate in “Coffee Club,” in which students give a presentation about different coffees from around the world and then make and serve coffee to the Elders. Of course, these activities can help students develop practical skills such as gardening or to learn about different cultures through the medium of coffee. However, these programs also enable students to engage in prosocial action by creating a much-appreciated community garden with and for the Elders or by spending time to make and serve them coffee.Beyond the more structured prosocial activities, students engage in more spontaneous forms of prosocial action as they spend time having conversations with Elders or undertaking activities with them such as reading, chess, music/dance, and painting. To facilitate these interactions and activities, students learn to respectfully interact with and aid the Elders—many of whom live with dementia or varying physical and intellectual conditions. As such, students often help Elders experiencing physical disability to move around the center and help Elders experiencing cognitive impairments to engage in cognitively complex activities such as puzzles. Moreover, students learn to offer empathy and emotional support as they engage in conversations with Elders, offering friendship and support to those Elders who feel lonely, bored, or helpless. Thus, iGen provides a long-term immersive experience enabling students to engage in frequent prosocial acts with and for their Elders.Finally, in addition to more hands-on experiences with prosocial action, the students often observe the teachers, staff, and Elders similarly undertaking prosocial interactions. For example, the teacher, staff, and Elders often demonstrate patient and active listening when speaking with Elders or offer help to Elders with ambulatory or cognitive challenges. This prosocial modeling ensures that Elders feel both respect and care while the students learn how to engage with Elders in a prosocial manner. As such, students also observe and learn from adult models as they socialize and normalize prosocial action across the daily interactions in the care home.