Part of Lesson Plan: Signs and Symptoms of Injuries to the Brain

Activity Overview / Details

After students are seated, they will be asked to take out a pen and paper.  I ask them to notate as clearly as possible the "on-the-field" incident they are about to observe.  Do not give students a limit or amount of writing you want them to accomplish, leave it open ended with a statement like, "While watching the following short incident, record on a single piece of paper what occured." Most students will tend to record the event focused on the action of the hit, but what a professional will record is more prominently the incident AND the behaviors of the injured athlete after the incident. Ask the students to consider whether this athlete has been injured or not, and if so, what injury should we consider he has sustained.

(This lesson should be conducted after students have concluded some form of instruction on lobes of the brain and the various functions and body performance they regulate. For a quick refresher, you can use this 3D Brain Diagram) http://www.brainline.org/multimedia/interactive_brain/the_human_brain.html?gclid=CP7Xtfqv-akCFcTBKgodnGpsaQ

Once students have watched the Football Hit video below and recorded their observations, have a few students share what they saw. Next, remind students that a Sports Med. Trainer often has to record as much as possible about how the injury occured and behaviors witnessed  in order to both assess on the spot and provide documentation to specialists afterwards to better aid the recovery and rehabilitation program. You might replay the video and give them a verbal description of what is significant and how it helps to identify the specific lobes of the brain most impacted. (Most likely, the Cerebellum was engaged in a secondary-impact against the interior of the skull as a result of the initial hit to the chest...make sure they recognize that his actual head was not hit at all.)

Next they will be shown a series of slides showing head and face injuries.  Students will be asked to identify the different types of injuries.  A comparison of their answers will be done at the end of class when they are asked to watch the same slides and once again identify the injuries.