Impacting Cultural Trends in Childcare and Older Adult Living Situations through Service Learning in Beijing, China Using An Interdisciplinary Design Approach

China is experiencing an aging "boom" that is challenging smaller numbers of family members to provide care for an increasing number of older adults. This international project sought to contribute to the development of insightful alternatives for families who are challenged to provide care for older adults and children. To that end, a group of students was invited to engage in an interdisciplinary, immersive service-learning project to design a combined nursing home, adult day program, and child day care center located in Beijing. Students were interior designers from the United States and architectural students from Beijing. They were immersed in another culture, designed using new cultural norms and historic elements, and observed the impact of social and political/government policy on modern building practices. Student evaluations were compared with service learning experiences of other university students. Overwhelmingly, students who studied in China indicated that completion of this service-learning project pertained to their academic goals and that they would complete another project in the future.