Social Issues in Aging
Examines origins, nature, scope, and dynamics of social problems affecting older adults and their families in the U.S., covering available programs and services.
Summary
Past student reviews · Suzanna Castillo
The course included three paper assignments, which were manageable, but exams were described as extremely difficult with a low average and no curve.
What you’ll be able to do
Recognize aging as a combination of psychological, social, and biological processes.
Identify personal attitudes/values and dispel commonly held myths/stereotypes regarding older adults and aging.
Recognize how older adults are impacted by intersecting identities, including age, race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, and other minoritized statuses as well as socio-historical context and life experiences across the life course.
Describe how individual and compounded biopsychosocial issues can affect an older adult’s overall health and wellbeing as well as the health and well-being of those who work with and care for them.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapSophomore standing and (SOC WORK 205,SOC 181,SOC/C&E SOC 140, 210 or 211)
- Sophomore standing
- take one
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- All of
- Sophomore standing
- Any of
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
SUZANNA WATERS CASTILLO is recorded teaching in Fall 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Suzanna Castillo
Students found the class challenging, particularly due to difficult exams that remained tough even with open notes.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.53 GPA, 73.7% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.77 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.97 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Suzanna Castillo
The course included three paper assignments, which were manageable, but exams were described as extremely difficult with a low average and no curve.
Past student reviews · Suzanna Castillo
A past student criticized the instructor's communication and felt the teaching quality had declined from previous years.
Topics
- Social problems of older adults and their families in the U.S.
- Programs and services available to older adults
- Aging as psychological, social, and biological processes
- Intersecting identities and socio-historical context in aging
Skills
- Recognizing aging as a combination of psychological, social, and biological processes.
- Identifying personal attitudes/values and dispelling myths/stereotypes regarding older adults and aging.
- Recognizing how older adults are impacted by intersecting identities and socio-historical context.
- Describing how biopsychosocial issues affect older adults' health and wellbeing.
Grades
Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Fall 2025
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
[]
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"output_id": "3a8f1107b2cbc8d1276c66b1e34b4ae0999b7e6ee04c93f609067481366d4500",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}