The progress of the team projects will be publicised on our webpage and updated regularly. All companies, organisations, and professors who are interested in the interdisciplinary projects are welcome to follow the talent teams’ project development and attend the final symposium in June 2020.
Team project - talent team 1
Teaching Our Children About Death
An interdisciplinary theme week in Danish elementary schools to teach children about topics like death and ageing that engages them in enriching learning experiences
Our project revolves around the important question of how we talk to our children about death and about the ageing process that we all go through. With the demographic change in Western societies we are expecting an ever greater number of elderly people in the coming decades, making it even more important that children are well prepared for life and all that it offers. Simultaneously we are facing a problem with the topic of death, which many people still see as a taboo. We are seldom prepared for it when it comes to our doorstep and we have to say goodbye to a loved one.
Therefore, in order to bring these topics closer to children and prepare them for life, we want to implement a theme week about death and ageing in Danish elementary that takes an interdisciplinary approach. By including all the different school suspects and using non-standard teaching methods (e.g. open discussions, flipped classrooms, role play, physical learning activities, etc.) we aspire to (a) talk about very difficult topics with, (b) inspire empathy by showing and letting them experience different viewpoints to help them understand life from somebody else’s position, and (c) to edify them as human beings through the process of cooperative humanistic learning so that they can use the skills they learn during the project (like innovative thought, socratic thinking, empathy, etc.) throughout their life.
Currently, we are working on prototypes for different grades in order to get feedback from different stakeholders on our model and improve it so that in the end it would be possible for a Danish Folkeskole to use our week program in one of their three theme week slots throughout and help better prepare the children for life and for the hardships they might face.
Team project - talent team 2
Levebo: An intergenerational institution
Age segregation in modern societies
Since the industrial revolution, our society has moved from collectiveness and intimacy to dehumanisation and lack of connection and meaning. This transformation is intrinsically linked to the process of age segregation, where people are separated into different institutions, social spheres and cultural communities based on their age. The separation of individuals based on age leads to more uniform social networks with consequences for the well-being of individuals and for the society as a whole.
Consequences
Firstly, age segregation can lead to disconnected communities, as people belonging to different age groups do not interact. Secondly, elderly people, whose immediate social network are fragile, experience loneliness and lack of meaning. Thirdly, children who grow up in a community where they only experience a certain type of people will not grow up to be openminded citizens of the world. These issues are problematic today and their significance will only increase as populations are ageing. To combat these problems, we suggest an intergenerational institution:
Levebo
Levebo is a fusion of a kindergarten and an elderly living facility. Here, we encourage intergenerational exchange in a relaxed atmosphere where meaningful encounters happen organically. Previous research has demonstrated that intergenerational programmes have positive effects for elderly as well as children. Benefits for elderly include a greater sense of meaningfulness, a more active and healthier lifestyle and lower rates of depression, social isolation, and loneliness. Benefits for children include more positive attitudes towards elderly and an enhanced development of socioemotional skills.
By facilitating not only intergenerational day-to-day activities, but long-lasting intergenerational friendships, our idea aims to counteract age segregation and reintroduce collectiveness and intimacy in our modern societies.
Team project - talent team 3
E-memory
E-memory is a tablet based application developed for people in the early stages of dementia.
The application consists of various personalized features, distributed into seven different functions with subfeatures such as games, life stories, family tree, diary reminders, weekly goals, avatar, informative, and statistics functions. Below each of them is presented in more detail.
The aim of this application is to provide our focus segment with a self-empowerment tool and help them preserve their individuality, independence and dignity for as long as possible throughout their life with the disease. Furthermore, E-memory creates a positive environment where patients engage in a diversity of digital entertaining activities and simultaneously stimulate their cognitive abilities. All of this contributes to upholding an active participation in their own life and conserve their interest in the surrounding environment.
E-memory consists of seven functions:
- ‘My life’ is used to preserve memories through personalized subfunctions - a family tree, a diary and ‘grandparent tell’ that is used as book of the demented citizen’s life.
- ‘Daily reminders’ is a personalized feature where the user logs their personal tasks and follows through their execution.
- ‘Goal of the week’ is connected to an avatar. The user generates what they want to achieve during one-week period and when the goal is completed, the avatar congratulates them.
- The function ‘Games’ provides many personalized and generic games.
- ‘The Avatar’ is a self-mirroring tool providing a visualization of different messages used by the app such as supporting the daily reminders or simply just for fun.
- In the function ‘About Dementia’ the user can gain more in-depth knowledge about their medical condition. Thus, it provides self-empowerment over the disease due to them getting ahead of it and lets them know why they are experiencing what they are
- The function ‘My stats’ is predominantly used by teachers from a Dementia School, who follow the user’s progress and tailor additional activities or stimulation treatments according to their needs.
What sets E-memory apart from similar digital solutions is that it addresses patients’ needs, such as knowledge of life history, habits, values, needs, desires, and preferences, instead of what they need help with - personal hygiene, oral hygiene, etc. E-memory differs from the existing apps with its personalization of functionalities, such as the family tree, the avatar, personalized games, and the access it provides to Dementia School.
Our solution allows demented people to experience self-empowerment and have active participation in their own life. We hope that the results from using the application will contribute to the people’s ability to preserve their interest in the surrounding world, their independence and dignity for a longer period of time.