Do Now 12/3

Learning by Doing: Physical Therapy

     

     As of lately, it appears as if grades are stressed more than the actual education. Too often, students become so concerned with their grades that they exert the majority of their focus on how to take the test and how to find loopholes to succeed numerically as opposed to actually learning and understanding what is being taught. Take it from an overachiever. Grades take out the fun in learning. 

     In school, we learn through the words of textbooks, but are those words really going to fully prepare us for the future? Only to a minimal extent. The most valuable source of education is experience, and that is what I want to bring into public education. I want to establish a physical therapy class in school. And no, we will not be learning from a textbook. Instead, we will be learning by doing. The classroom will be set up to resemble the structure and equipment of a real physical therapy clinic. Students will learn real physical therapy exercises for different conditions, and actually practice it on dummies or real people. They will then learn how to use, clean, and store all of the equipment. They will learn how to manage their time and overcome the distinct obstacles of a physical therapist as well. 

     There will be no formal test grades, for tests do not define one's full capacity. Instead, grades will come from how well the students listen, actively participate, and overcome the simulated obstacles of a physical therapist. Learning by doing: that is the objective.