I came across this TED video the other day and I thought it was absolutely amazing for a few reasons. The first was just how amazing Dr. Courtine's Team's accomplishments were to the understanding of how the spinal cord and nerves function in regards to spinal injuries. The second had to do with how his mentors allowed him the chance to explore an idea that went against 20 years of accepted research and to go out and test his idea whether it was right or wrong.This freedom that was given to Dr. Courtine to pursue his ideas is so fundamental to helping students learn. The process of creating an idea and having a chance to explore and test it is the backbone to a quality learning experience. With the the Common Core High Stakes Testing shaping education today, we are seeing fewer and fewer opportunities for teachers and students to learn through the exploration of ideas. Those organic opportunities that pop up in a class that can offer chances for learning are being stifled as pacing, worksheets, and assessments handed down from the state take up more and more time.
Are we going to make the next big discovery or advancements with this type of instruction?
The other facet of this video that captured my attention was the way team work and collaboration were used to explore the idea. Experts in many fields needed to work together in order to make this experiment possible. Neurology, Biology, Engineering, and Medicine were just a few of the feilds that had to work together in this project. The reason it was so successful, was due to all of these people sharing a goal and working together towards it. That is exactly the kind of thing we needed to be teaching the children of today and tomorrow.
The study itself is amazing and consisted of trying to reactivate the nerves affected by spinal injuries. In most spinal injuries the nerves that are below the injury, can no longer receive signals from the brain, so they go dormant and the organism loses function of them.
The goal of the study was to see if it was possible to use medicines to reactivate the nerves to a high level of arousal and then electronically stimulate them in an attempt the allow the patient, the rat in this case, to regain use of its legs. The study was designed to learn more about how spinal injuries can be treated to hopefully improve the lives of people suffering from them.
To accomplish this a rat was given a surgically induced spinal injury that would cause it to lose function of it legs. It was then outfitted with a special robot that would help support its body, a device to proved electronic stimulation to the nerves below the injury, and medicine to awaken the dormant nerve structures. It was also given lots and lots of Swiss chocolate for motivation!
The rat was put on a special treadmill, and when it was set into motion the legs began to work again! They were not being consciously controlled by the rat, but the stimuli being picked up by the nerves was causing it to be able to stand and walk with its hind legs again! Unfortunately this was not a permanant fix that would give the rat back full function.
It did get the scientists thinking though. They continued to work the rat out on the treadmill with the assisting robot and stimulation regimen, and after a number of months noticed an amazing change. The rat was regaining some of its control of its legs! It was able to consciously move them to help it get to its chocolate treat.
The scientists had found that the therapy they had been giving the rat had been stimulating the growth of neurons and the formations of new pathways for the rats brain to communicate with its legs. Who knows what this advancement will mean for people in the future, but it is definitely a step in the right direction for improving many peoples lives.
All of this because someone had an idea that they were given the chance to explore and follow.
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