Abstract:

The University of Valencia offers a lifelong learning program devoted to people over 55 years old named the “Nau Gran”. Most students join in the Nau when they get retired at an average age of 65 and the oldest student holds the record at 101. The program has a branch in experimental sciences which covers disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science. The program of Physics is organised in 50 lectures and covers a full set of matters starting from the fundamentals and ending up with hot topics in science and technology. In this work we report on the experiences accumulated teaching Physics at the Nau Gran over the past few years and we analyse the main challenges to be faced in the future. The paper presents the expectations and the background of potential students, describes the objectives and the specific program adapted to these students, analyses the methodology used to enhance the learning process (teaching tools, organization of lectures, style, lessons previews, experimental demonstrations, mathematical level, worked examples, opened debate with students) and also discusses the assessment of the students learning; an independent survey gives feedback to modify strategies every year. Finally, some challenges arising from this experience are commented in this work: the installation of a laboratory where students could work on their selves or the need of new concepts to improve assessment. The increasing demand of the course and the satisfactory results demonstrate that learning physics overcomes the barrier of age.

Keywords:

Long life learning, Age barrier, Physics.