Development and Application of an Integrated Curriculum Centered on Mathematics for Elderly generations

Purpose To develop an education program based on adult learning principles and actual experiences of elderly generations to develop an integrated curriculum centered on Mathematics. Methods Using a theme-based integrated curriculum design for a particular group of elderly learners (n=4x18), this study followed a sequence in program development: Assessing the needs, choosing a theme, studying a topic, writing a rationale, brainstorming, stating the learning objective, planning the project, establishing detailed activity plans, programming the learning time, and assessing the efficiency and the validity. Results Using our data analysis, core concepts were applied to everyday experiences of travel and cooking; the need to develop numeracy for elderly generations informed the development of unit objectives and learning outcomes within a Korean adult literacy curriculum. Implementation of the curriculum led to some improvement as evident from the pre- and post-results using the K-mmse; it was also possible for the elderly generations to engage in cooperative learning events and complement each other during the problem solving processes. Conclusion This study is significant in that it develops and applies the principles of Problem-based Learning (PBL) - an integrated curriculum design, use of real-life topics and consideration of the needs of the learner, in this case, elderly generations. As a learner-centered curriculum, it gave greater motivation to learners and made the mathematics subject relevant to their needs. It is necessary to consider the diversity across generations of learners and develop curricula in accordance with their needs.