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How has the sports medicine field advanced equipment to protect athletes and give them an advantage?

Lesson Plan 

Cole Finkbeiner 

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Objectives:

  1. Students will understand the effect of sports equipment on athletes’ careers.

  2. Students will identify the changes made to helmets in various sports over time.

  3. Students will analyze the decrease in the number of concussions with the change in helmets.

Lesson:

  1. Background in Sports (Hook) - 1 min

    1. Ask students if they have played sports before.

    2. Ask students if they have played a sport with a helmet.

    3. Show pictures of different kinds of sports equipment and identify them.

    4. Show slide of helmets last

  2. Early helmets and how they started (Introduction); Source (“Patient Issued” 1) - 2 min

    1. Helmets were not worn at the start of football.

    2. Picture of football players wearing leather caps rather than helmets

    3. Talk about why helmets are worn in sports.

    4. Talk about what sports helmets are used.

How much do you think these early helmets helped the athletes? 

    1. Talk about the goal of helmets.

  2. Advancements in helmets (Lecture); Source: (Piazza 1-4) - 3 min

    1. Show picture of what modern helmets look like today 

    2. Talk about the overwhelming number of concussions in sports today.

    3. A decline in the number of  concussions over the years (correlation to helmets)

    4. Show helmet to helmet collisions. 

    5. Helmet to helmet collisions is a major danger in sports today.

    6. Show research being done with woodpecker 

How do you think modern-day helmets help the players’ careers after seeing the first helmets?

  1. The change to the equipment in NASCAR (Lecture); Source: (Piazza 1-4) - 3 min

    1.  Death of driver 

    2. Head and neck support required 

    3. Took a tragedy of a great driver to add in this safety precaution 

What do you think about this? (Taking a tragedy to fix a problem)

  1. Looking at the Statistics of Concussions (Activity); Source: (Teschler 8) - 5 min 

    1. Statistics of concussions over time and with helmets

    2. Analysis and discussion of what students think

  2. Conclusion; Source: (Piazza 1-4) - 1 min 

    1. How safety has changed over the years 

    2. Practices have more of an effect on players’ heads.

    3. Talk about research done 

    4. Certain drills are not recommended for practices anymore due to effects. 

    5. Organizations being made for safety 

    6. Specific organizations made for testing and certifying helmets 

    7. Future and concept helmets (ideas for the future)

Materials:

  1. Photos of equipment 

  2. Statistics of concussions and helmets 

  3. Video clips of equipment and helmet to helmet collisions 

  4. Handouts of statistics 

  5. Google Slides



Annotated Bibliography 

"Patent Issued for Football Helmet With Pressable Front Section (USPTO 10,470,515)." Health & Medicine Week, 29 Nov. 2019, p. 8574. Gale                    In Context: Global Issues, www.link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606633717/GIC?a=va_p_wakef_s&sid=GIC&xid=7b5e0f1d. Accessed 23                    Jan. 2020.

 

Football helmets have come a long way since the beginning. This article looks at helmets from the beginning until now and how to fix the mistakes. Their opinion is given. This helps me to show where they started and where they are now. 

 

Piazza, Stephen. “Technologue: Why Is It So Hard to Stop Sports Concussions?” American Scientist, vol. 102, no. 5, 2014, pp. 346–49.,                             www.jstor.org/stable/43707837. Accessed 27 Jan. 2020.

 

Piazza looks at all aspects of helmets. This article is all-encompassing. It starts from the beginning and works its way all the way until now. Piazza looks at the flaws in current helmets. This helps me to see where to go now and the true benefits of helmets. 

 

Teschler, Leland. "A hardheaded look at football-helmet design." Machine Design, 9 Dec. 2010, p. 8. Gale In Context: Science,                                            www.link.gale.com/apps/doc/A297716436/SCIC?u=va_p_wakef_s&sid=SCIC&xid=7db3d4ec. Accessed 23 Jan. 2020.

 

Concussions are a large part of sports today. With this comes prevention of these. In football helmets are what protect your head. In this article, Teschler looks at many studies of helmets. He also looks at how to improve helmets and gives his take. This helps me because helmets are the biggest equipment in sports.

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Lesson Plan Slideshow: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r-LZm6MqkG36SF4_Wtyf2Gn3WgSu8FF0nEaWSWzGdaw/edit?usp=sharing

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