An intergenerational approach to learning
Mirabella at ASU resident and student Bill Gates (left) and fourth-year interdisciplinary studies student Amanda Wright go through their preparation for their final presentation in ASU's "Educating for Democracy?" class on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The class has attracted a range of students from all ages and disciplines. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
Five students stood in front of the class and went through their presentation, complete with video and, afterward, a Q&A session.
At first glance, it was similar to the hundreds of presentations that are made every day, week and month across Arizona State University’s campuses.
Only this one was different.
Because the team included learners of all ages — from a first-year student to an 80-year-old resident of Mirabella at ASU, the senior living community in downtown Tempe.
Welcome to the "Educating for Democracy?" class, a Humanities Lab course that analyzes and explains the historical and contemporary relationships between education and democracy, and does so with an intergenerational mix of students.
“This is part of the Humanities Lab concept,” said Daniel Schugurensky, a professor in the School of Public Affairs and the School of Social Transformation who co-teaches the class with Carl Hermanns, a clinical professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. “The Humanities Lab has this inclusive approach that brings different perspectives to the challenges in society and in terms of education.”
The question mark at the end of the class name reflects the questioning nature of the course, Hermanns said. What is education? What is democracy? Should schools be expected to educate for democracy?
The 18 students in the class were divided into three inquiry teams that investigated the history of education and democracy. Then, for the project outcome, teams addressed a challenge they find relevant in today’s society.
One team offered a proposal to connect ASU students and science teachers in schools in order to implement sustainability projects. The team will do a pilot of the proposal in spring 2026 at a Title 1 middle school. Another team looked at scapegoating, and how certain groups of people are blamed for society’s ills.
“Their hypothesis is that one way to diminish scapegoating in society is through education,” Schugurensky said. “If people are more prepared to understand others and be more respectful and tolerant, they will be less susceptible to scapegoating discourses.”
Second-year student Katie Richie said the class, which had two focus groups with Mirabella at ASU residents and a meeting with an ASU sorority, “fundamentally changed how I think about education and democracy.”
It also changed the students.
Bill Gates, the 80-year-old Mirabella resident, and several other students said they weren’t aware of the intergenerational makeup of the class when they enrolled.
“I came into this class thinking it was going to be just freshmen,” said Cielo Monge, a mechanical engineering major. “When I walked in for the first time I was like, ‘Whoa, where are the freshmen?’”
The students quickly came to appreciate the age gap, though. For Gates, who has lived at Mirabella for more than two years and taken several ASU courses, "Educating for Democracy?" is another reminder that the future is in good hands with today’s college students.
“You hear all this crap about students being lazy, and it’s just not true,” Gates said. “They’re working two or three jobs. They’re taking unbelievable class loads, loads that I never would have taken in college. They’re very, very impressive.”
Wisdom flows both ways in the class. If Gates has a question about technology, there are 17 students who can help him. Conversely, “I can offer perspectives about what went on 50 years ago,” he said. “And not just about democracy. About life, too.”
Alexandra Hess, a second-year doctoral student with a focus on climatology, said being able to have intellectual conversations with people from “so many different levels” has made her think more critically about things.
“There’s something to learn from everybody,” she said.
That learning happens outside the scope of the class as well. Hess has told younger students who are planning to go to graduate school to start thinking immediately about what they need to do to get there. She’s also warned them about the perils of pulling all-nighters before an exam.
“At one point during midterms, I backed up the professors and told them that’s not a very good way to study,” she said.
Amanda Wright, a fourth-year student majoring in interdisciplinary studies, with an emphasis on marketing and communication, was able to help one first-year student who was “a little intimidated” about the ASU course load.
“I just told her, ‘It’s going to get easier. Dive into your work and always read all of the written material,' because it does help expand your mind and it trains you to take on that bandwidth of material,” Wright said.
That kind of advice is harder to come by in a class composed only of only first-year students.
“It’s been great to be surrounded by older people,” Monge said. “I have learned a lot from them when it comes to vocabulary, their projects, how they write. I was nervous at first because I thought my knowledge wasn’t high enough. I felt intimidated. But they’ve all been very, very helpful.”
Gates, at 80, feels the same way.
“I realize I’ve lost a step or two,” he said. “So it’s good to see fresh minds that click and work well. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
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