Comments on: The Best Life Expectancy Calculators http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/10/how-long-will-you-live/ ...For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:45:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Rees Midgley http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/10/how-long-will-you-live/comment-page-1/#comment-5861 Rees Midgley Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:23:30 +0000 http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/?p=1456#comment-5861 Hi Larry, I was fascinated while completing the first calculator (helped by my projected outcome!). But more to the point, I was intrigued by your comment: "it’s hard to find a topic of higher interest than having students try to discover how long they are going to live." This flies in the face of behaviorists who claim that education will not change behavior; that kids live in the here and now with little care for the future. My own experiences tell me that this is only partially true. Nice to see students interested in longevity as it may help them to change their lifestyle. Relatedly, my sense is that the longevity calculation is missing out on offering a thoughtful feedback at the end explaining the most important changeable components and how they could make a difference. I did the first one, "Living to 100," and did not see this as an option. Perhaps others do. Hi Larry,
I was fascinated while completing the first calculator (helped by my projected outcome!). But more to the point, I was intrigued by your comment: “it’s hard to find a topic of higher interest than having students try to discover how long they are going to live.” This flies in the face of behaviorists who claim that education will not change behavior; that kids live in the here and now with little care for the future. My own experiences tell me that this is only partially true. Nice to see students interested in longevity as it may help them to change their lifestyle.

Relatedly, my sense is that the longevity calculation is missing out on offering a thoughtful feedback at the end explaining the most important changeable components and how they could make a difference. I did the first one, “Living to 100,” and did not see this as an option. Perhaps others do.

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