Ready, set, hike! Fans across the globe look forward to the beginning of football season—but, it's not all tackles and tailgates! Sporty scholars discover how helmets keep heads safe through a video from the American Chemical Society's Reactions playlist. The narrator describes football's long history of hard hits, the physics behind impact, and the repercussions of repeated injury.

Concepts

football, the brain, force, the skull

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Highlight the importance of protective gear or take a closer look at brain trauma by showing the video
• Invite student athletes to talk about injuries and their experiences with recovery to bring a personal element to the lesson
  

Classroom Considerations

• Give pupils some additional information on the materials manufacturers use to make helmets

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Colorful diagrams help learners follow what happens to the brain during an impact
• The narrator gives detailed explanations of the inner workings of helmets

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.9-10.2