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Compuabuelitos/Technogrands: An intergenerational experience based on Pierre Faure’s pedagogy

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Abstract

This article showcases Compuabuelitos, a Mexican project where teenagers taught their own grandparent (or another elderly person they already knew) basic cell phone technology skills. The Spanish project name conflates “computer” and abuelitos [the affectionate term for grandparents], which is difficult to translate, so for this article, published in English, the authors coined the term “technogrands”. Many other projects of this kind have been run in schools in other countries with positive results, but the distinctive feature of this particular intervention was that the adolescents received training about older people’s needs prior to engaging with their elders. The project was conducted as a course assignment at lower secondary/junior high level in a private K–9 school which implements a learner-centred pedagogical model created by French Jesuit Pierre Faure (1904–1988). This model is based on respecting learners’ individual characteristics and pace, and their own self-learning and decision-making capacities. The teenagers applied these principles to the course they taught their third-age learners. The adolescent trainers not only succeeded in helping their trainees achieve learning targets, but also gained a closer relationship with their elders – and the experience proved to be enjoyable for both parties. The teenagers attributed the accomplishment of their teaching success to their using language which was appropriate for their third-age learners, adapting their teaching style to older people’s characteristics and creating a friendly learning environment. Besides being part of the teenagers’ curriculum, the project also served as an opportunity for qualitative research into the students’ perception of the effect of the project. The authors present their findings organised into the three domains of perceptions of the third age as a stage in life, personal relationships and pedagogical skills. Their analysis of the students’ expressions of their experiences draws on the framework of symbolic interactionism.

Résumé

Compuabuelitos/technogrands : une expérience intergénérationnelle basée sur la pédagogie de Pierre Faure – Cet article présente un projet mexicain baptisé Compu-abelitos, dans le cadre duquel des adolescents initient leurs propres grands-parents, ou d’autres personnes âgées de leur connaissance, à l’utilisation du téléphone portable. Le nom espagnol du projet est un mot-valise difficile à traduire, formé à partir de computer (ordinateur) et d’abuelitos (un terme affectueux pour désigner les grands-parents). Aussi les auteurs ont-ils créé le néologisme « technogrands » pour cet article publié en anglais. Nombre de projets de ce type menés dans des écoles dans d’autres pays ont permis d’obtenir de bons résultats. Toutefois, celui-ci se distingue par le fait que les adolescents ont été formés aux besoins des personnes âgées avant d’intervenir auprès de leurs ainés. Le projet a été organisé comme un devoir au niveau de l’enseignement secondaire de premier cycle dans un collège privé qui utilise un modèle pédagogique créé par le jésuite français Pierre Faure (1904-1988). Ce modèle repose sur le respect des particularités et du rythme individuel de l’apprenant, et sur ses capacités personnelles à apprendre par lui-même et à prendre des décisions. Les adolescents appliquent ces principes lors des cours qu’ils donnent aux apprenants du troisième âge. Non seulement ces jeunes formateurs réussissent à aider leurs élèves à atteindre des objectifs d’apprentissage, mais ils resserrent également les liens qui les unissent à leurs ainés – et cette expérience s’est révélée être agréable de part et d’autre. Les adolescents attribuent la réussite de leur enseignement à l’utilisation d’un langage approprié pour leurs élèves ainsi qu’à l’adaptation de leur style d’enseignement aux particularités des personnes âgées et à la création d’un cadre d’apprentissage agréable. Outre avoir été intégré au curriculum des adolescents, le projet était aussi l’occasion de mener des recherches qualitatives sur la façon dont les élèves perçoivent les effets du projet. Les auteurs ont réparti le fruit de ces recherches en trois catégories : la perception du troisième âge en tant qu’étape de la vie, les relations personnelles et les compétences pédagogiques. Leur analyse de ce qu’ont exprimé les collégiens au sujet de leur vécu du projet s’appuie sur l’interactionnisme symbolique.

Resumen

Compuabuelitos/Technogrands: Una experiencia intergeneracional basada en la pedagogía de Pierre Faure – El presente artículo expone el proyecto “Compuabuelitos” donde un grupo de adolescentes impartieron un curso sobre habilidades básicas en el uso de teléfono celular a sus propios abuelos o un adulto mayor cercano. El proyecto tuvo lugar como parte de una asignatura en una escuela secundaria en México, la cual trabaja bajo un modelo educativo centrado en el alumno creado por pedagogo francés Pierre Faure (1904–1988), el cual enfatiza el respeto a la persona, a sus características individuales, a su ritmo de aprendizaje, a su capacidad de toma de decisiones y de auto aprendizaje. Estos principios fueron aplicados por los adolescentes en su curso con las personas de la tercera edad. Aunque es posible encontrar experiencias similares con resultados positivos en escuelas de otros países, la particularidad de esta intervención consiste en un entrenamiento previo dado a los jóvenes acerca de las necesidades y características especiales de los adultos mayores. Los resultados reportan un aprendizaje exitoso para los abuelos, una relación más cercana entre las dos generaciones y una experiencia agradable para ambos. Los jóvenes atribuyeron estos logros a la creación de un ambiente amigable, a la adaptación del curso y del lenguaje de acuerdo a las personas mayores. Al mismo tiempo se realizó una investigación cualitativa sobre el proyecto, donde se analizaron las expresiones de los adolescentes utilizando el interaccionismo simbólico como marco referencial. Los autores clasificaron sus hallazgos en tres dimensiones: percepción de la tercera edad como una etapa de la vida, relaciones personales y habilidades pedagógicas.

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Notes

  1. The Spanish project name conflates “computer” and abuelitos [the affectionate term for grandparents], which is difficult to translate, so for this article, published in English, we coined the term “technogrands”.

  2. In a nutshell, symbolic interaction is a sociological theory developed during late 1960s and early 1970s by American sociologist Herbert Blumer (1969). It focuses on how humans interact with others and objects depending on the meanings that individuals or groups confer on given phenomena within a society,

  3. Identity integration is a term coined by Erik Erikson (1968). It refers to a process that takes place mainly during adolescence. Identity integration is accomplished by experimenting with different roles in social life and learning what makes oneself unique and how this can be reconciled with the need to fit in. Relationships with and adaptation to the adult world are built here as consequence.

  4. The topic of the IV Congreso Iberoamericano de Universidades para Mayores, CIUUM 2011, held in Alicante 27–30 June 2011, was “Lifelong learning, active ageing and international cooperation in university programmes for older adults".

  5. Medicare is a United States federal health insurance programme catering for people who are 65 or older; certain younger people with disabilities; and people with end-stage renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant).

  6. U3A stands for University of the Third Age.

  7. Children in Mexico enter kindergarten/preschool (3 years) at age 3, and primary/elementary school (years/grades 1–6) at age 6. This is followed by lower secondary/junior high school (years/grades 7–9) and upper secondary/senior high school (years/grades 10–12). Education is free, and compulsory attendance, which begins in primary year/grade 1, was extended from grade/year 9 (age 15) up to year/grade 12 (age 18) in 2012. Besides being provided by public (state) schools, education is also available in private schools such as the Pierre Faure Institute.

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Aldaco-Arias , S.M., Silas-Casillas , J.C. Compuabuelitos/Technogrands: An intergenerational experience based on Pierre Faure’s pedagogy. Int Rev Educ 67, 451–474 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-021-09906-w

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