Physical therapists state that relearning how to walk often motivates stroke and brain injury patients. Researchers spend a great deal of time focused on understanding the neural control required for walking. They pass along that knowledge here as scholars learn about gait control in humans and animals as well as the research breakthroughs of the past few years.

Concepts

walking, running, neurons, gene therapy, genes

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members use all four limbs to try the gaits discussed on slides three through six
• Discuss the future of physical therapy and biomedical engineering as it relates to gait

Classroom Considerations

• Relies on prior knowledge of genes, molecules, and neurons

Pros

• Shares videos of animals and people to better understand gait control
• Offers neural diagrams to highlight the important points

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.9-10.2 SL.11-12.2 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4