We are in the middle of the new, updated course for instructors of the USAW Level 2 certification. So far, it has been very enlightening and, although some of the pedagogy they are talking about in the learning modules are a review from my education classes from undergrad, some great new information has come to light. One of the points they brought up in the last module was that “knowledge does not equal understanding”. It is one thing to have the knowledge to be able to spew out on demand, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have a full understanding where you can break down the information and doesn’t necessarily correlate to using that knowledge to teach or coach the material effectively. Speaking of my undergrad days, I remember getting an “A” in my anatomy and physiology class and working my butt off to get the grade. I had a “knowledge” of the muscles, their origins and insertions and could regurgitate that info on a test. However, it wasn’t until I got out into the real world of coaching and teaching that I realized that knowledge wasn’t enough. I had to figure out how all that applied to performance, movement and injury prevention. It takes time to get that more complete understanding before the knowledge really kicks in.
