“Our Hands Will Know”: The Development of Tactile Diagnostic Skill—Teaching, Learning, and Situated Cognition in a Physical Therapy Program

Relying on observational and interview data from a clinical practice class in a graduate physical therapy program, I examine, within a situated cognition framework, the teaching and learning of a concept in biomechanics, the manual techniques and tactile discrimination skills that accompany it, and the diagnostic frame of mind that informs concept, technique, and skill. In examining this complex set of practices, I hope to add to and qualify the literature on working knowledge, participation and competence, and situated learning and pedagogy.