Human capacity for action as core content in occupational science education

Incentives for teaching occupational science may vary from advancement of the discipline to providing philosophical grounding for the profession of occupational therapy. Regardless of the aim, the essential content of the subject matter - occupational science - has been largely unexplored. In seeking to refine concepts of occupation that emerged from scholarship in occupational therapy and yet distance the conversation from an applied perspective, occupational scientists have focused heavily on the form, function and meaning of occupation as well as sociocultural factors effecting occupational engagement. This focus has largely divorced the content from the exploration of the embodied experience of and the human capacity for action. This paper seeks to challenge that division by considering human capacity for action as integral to understanding occupation, and knowledge of body structure and function as key to understanding human capacity for action. We offer an example of a course where human capacity for action is foregrounded, enabling students to more clearly understand the relationship between occupation, embodied action, and body structures and functions.