The iCanBeADoctor Program
iCanBeADoctor is a brain-science based awareness and motivation program for young children that generates an interest and excitement about becoming a doctor when they grow up. iCanBeADoctor addresses two basic components essential to interest and motivation: experience and fun. iCanBeADoctor is the first program of its kind to prime interest and motivation using neuroscientifically-proven techniques. These techniques are integrated into the iCanBeADoctor curriculum which encourages children to imagine, experience, and reflect upon what it would be like to be a doctor. The program also inherently encourages self-reflection and an awareness of interaction with others. Given the complexity of reinforcing awareness and motivation over time, it cannot be achieved solely through singular experiences or wishful thinking. The iCanBeADoctor’s program addresses interest and motivation over time in a flexible, individualized and professionally supported manner.
- iCanBeADoctor children's books
- Educational tools
- Structured activities
- Integrated research
- Program animators
- Collaborative partnerships
Curriculum Modules
iCanBeADoctor Children’s Books: The iCanBeADoctor curriculum integrates a series of children’s books that are inspired by our Founder’s family history with her beloved pediatrician. Each story combines real and imaginary events that culminate in the main characters Manny, Mickey and Ashton becoming interested and excited about becoming a doctor when they grow up. The connection between the story characters, the real world, and career exploration becomes evident and helps children to imagine work related possibilities while their own attitudes are just beginning to form. The book series also familiarizes children with medical vocabulary and nurtures health related discussions between the storyteller (medical students) and the listeners.
Educational Tools: iCanBeADoctor provides each child with a cost-free playtime medical kit to utilize while they participate in the program, and to take home and keep for subsequent play with friends. Each kit contains a toy stethoscope, toy syringe, toy bandage, toy reflex hammer, toy thermometer and a playtime ID badge, which will be used during fun, age-appropriate, research and curriculum-based role-play activities. During role-play activities, children practice empathic and caring behaviors while they learn and reflect on how doctors help patients to stay healthy. Subsequent play at home enhances and reinforces what the children have learned and experienced during the program.
Structured Activities: iCanBeADoctor encourages children to imagine, experience, and reflect upon what it would be like to be a doctor using age-appropriate activities. Program activities include reading books from the iCanBeADoctor book series, engaging in age-appropriate discussions about what doctors do to help patients stay healthy, age-appropriate interactive role-play experiences using playtime medical kits, and interactive demonstrations by medical students followed by question-and-answer sessions. Each activity is strategically woven into the iCanBeADoctor program curriculum and is based on cutting-edge research in Predictive Education, Child Development, Cognition and Early Learning, Educational Psychology, Neuroplasticity and Brain-Science Based Motivation. Easy to use Instructor’s Manuals are provided to program animators (medical students) and all necessary materials are provided free of charge to children participating in the program.
Integrated Research: iCanBeADoctor is the first program of its kind to integrate research and methodologies from interrelated branches of science and synthesize them into a single comprehensive approach. Our unique methodologies draw upon the vast amount of research that has been done in the areas of Neuroplasticity (brain-science), Child Development, Cognition, Predictive Learning, and Educational Psychology. This inherent interplay lends credence to the rational underlying the effectiveness of the iCanBeADoctor program while promising to expand scientific understanding of interdisciplinary innovation.
Program Animators: iCanBeADoctor Program Animators are medical students who volunteer their time to implement the iCanBeADoctor program at schools and community centers, parties, events, and during campus visits. Each Program Animator is trained to implement the program using instruction manuals and resources that are contained in the curriculum. Discussions as well as question-and-answer sessions provide the Program Animators with an opportunity to model the concepts and skills that the program aims to convey, and to share information about why they chose to become doctors in a way that stimulates thought, imagination, and learning.
Collaborative Partnerships: Young children can imagine themselves in a variety of professional roles when they grow up, and that is why generating awareness and interest in more than one profession at a time is critical during the formative years of childhood. For this reason, iCanBeADoctor will collaborate with compatible programs that centralize a child’s exploration of the self within the context of unlimited future opportunities.
Everything Is Included at No Cost
iCanBeADoctor provides all tools and resources necessary for participation in our program, including the playtime medical kit which children can take home and keep for subsequent play with friends. Thanks to our generous sponsors, and program animators who volunteer their time, there is no cost requirement associated with our program.
- Full inclusion
- Increased attendance
- Consistent quality
- Measurable benefits
- Unlimited potential
- Exponential opportunities
