There is a vast body of literature devoted to an examination of life-span development. Several authors have described the characteristics of the life-span approach and have distinguished it from more traditional forms of psychology. Emphasis has been placed on the multidirectional and multidimensional nature of development and change, as well as on the multicausality of behaviors. The life-span approach has been characterized as focusing on basic issues in life-span developmental psychology, such as methodology and research design, cross-cultural and longitudinal studies, age-stage phenomena, and stability and change. In addition, this approach uses age divisions from infancy through late adulthood and emphasizes the developmental areas of physiology, cognition, language, perception, sex roles, and personality. The life-span approach brings a multidisciplinary perspective in its focus on different life stages with emphasis on change and continuity. This approach encapsulates a psychology of aging. When used in teaching a psychology of aging course, the life-span approach permits students to examine the complexities of development, to learn that there are no simple answers to complex questions, and to take responsibility for creating their futures. Such a perspective, while often difficult to communicate in teaching, is appropriate for the intellectually curious and for those able to live with ambiguity and uncertainty. (NB)