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"Concussions are a serious public health concern. One in five Canadians report a sport-related concussion in their lifetime and an estimated one in 10 youth sustains a sport-related concussion each year. To improve concussion prevention, detection and management, the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary has developed a course for parents, coaches, teachers and administrators of school and sport environments, health-care professionals and those who have experienced a concussion.  "This course demystifies concussion and explains how everyone can play a role to prevent, identify and manage this type of traumatic brain injury," says Dr. Kathryn Schneider, PT, PhD, an assistant professor and clinician scientist (physiotherapist) in the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre in the kinesiology faculty. "This program also demonstrates how a concussion management protocol can be adapted to the characteristics and resources of different sports and settings." A concussion management protocol is a detailed process that outlines how to prevent, detect and manage concussions in a specific context."

"As regular readers of this blog know, I am a proponent of getting kids involved in physical activities like bicycling, skiing, and playing team sports. I also like to see connections made between students' interest in sports and lessons in the classroom. The resources below can all be used to create lessons connected to students' interests in sports."

"Every child deserves the opportunity to shine, whether academically, through the arts, in sports or via community service. School districts throughout our country work to fulfill their mission to provide these opportunities, first by offering the most robust curriculum possible. Financial strains, however, can often limit extracurricular activities. Yet we can all remember from our own experience that schools, at their best, provide an array of performing and visual arts programming and a wide variety of sports and community service clubs. Numerous studies support engaging students in such a broad range of activities. In fact, as noted by John H. Holloway, a consultant for the teaching and learning division of the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, limiting outside activities can have a negative effect for students:"

"The Faculty of Kinesiology, the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre and the Integrated Concussion Research Program at the University of Calgary now hosts a massive open online course (MOOC) on concussion. A MOOC is a free, non-credited course open to everyone. The course aims to demystify concussion, clarify the role of those involved in the prevention and management of concussion, and support participants to implement a concussion management protocol adapted to their specific sport, school or community environment. The course aims to educate health professionals, parents, coaches, teachers, school adminstrators and sport leaders. Offered in collaboration with the Université Laval, the course is available in English and French."

"It's no secret that curling is somewhat of a lovable laughingstock in the world of winter sports. Compared to the adrenaline-pumping action of ice hockey, snowboarding and freestyle skiing, a bunch of people in sneakers sweeping around a rock might seem a bit ... simple. As it turns out, the sport is about as far from simple as you can possibly get."

"App Smashing is the process of combining content in one or more apps together for a creative and effective outcome. App smashing can make the iPad a powerful aid in sports coaching and other mediums. As any cricket geek knows, the season is about to start. I've been playing, and more specifically, bowling, for about 25 years (the less said about my batting the better) and I have a fairly well grooved bowling action. As any sportsperson will know, there is always room for improvement and this pre-season, I turned to my iPad to help me tweek my bowling technique."

"Kids can learn the physics of hockey and aerial skiing, the engineering of the halfpipe and bobsled, the chemistry of snow and ice, and the math of Olympic greatness -- all from fabulous five minute videos featuring winter Olympics. Not only that, but kids can apply these STEM concepts into improving their own winter sports abilities and use the knowledge to experiment with science, engineering and math through play. NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation have released Science of the Olympic Winter Games 2010 and Science and engineering of the Olympic Winter Games 2014 to teach the science and engineering behind individual Olympic events. There are sixteen videos in the 2010 series and ten videos in the 2014 series. Each video is approximately 5 minutes long, and the 2014 series includes lesson plans, integration guides and ideas for hands-on investigations, as well."

"One of the most basic methods of piquing student interest in a STEM concept is to make the subject relatable to another topic they enjoy. Combine sports and STEM to engage more students when teaching these concepts."

"Saving the Sports Complex Algebra Project"

"The province and Winnipeg Regional Health Authority have opened up a new specialized concussion clinic for children at the MTS Iceplex. Youth who have suffered a concussion are referred to the clinic by the Children's Hospital to receive ongoing care. The program is expected to see up to 30 new pediatric patients under the age of 19 per week. "With school back in full swing, sports teams are hitting the field, court and ice. When our children are getting back into their activities, it can increase the risk of a concussion," said Health Minister Erin Selby. "For parents of a child who has suffered a concussion in the past, the biggest concern is if their child is ready to go back to school or sports. Concussion experts work with the family to treat the concussion, develop a care plan and monitor recovery to determine when the child can safely return to school or activities."

"Google Forms allows you to create pages so that all of the questions are not all on one screen. In some circumstances the questions do not apply for every student. If students answer no they are not participating in a sport the section of questions about which sports the student participates in can be skipped. If you are using a Google Form as a formative assessment quiz you can direct students to a page with instruction on the topic if they get the question wrong or go to the next question if they get the question correct."

"32 million people watched the Season 3 World Championships for the video game League of Legends this year. 8.5 million of those people watched at the same time. To put that in perspective, 13 million people watch a typical NFL game on Sunday. Last years' World Series drew 18 million viewers. 8.5 million viewers at one time is really impressive when you realize this was accomplished without a large TV contract and almost no marketing. The impact of these gaming tournaments has created billion dollar deals in the field of video streaming. It is big business. Competitive video gaming is nothing new. Game designers however, have figured out a formula that not only makes games that have mass appeal to players, but to those watching as well. Games are no longer just for sale as a leisure product, they are a sport. Games like League of Legends, Starcraft II, Counter Strike and Dota 2 are putting up millions in prize money and salaries to top players."

"There are a lot of dangerous stereotypes out there. "Asian students are always better at math." "Boys are always better at sports." And perhaps the most dangerous of all: "The current generation are all digital natives." It is easy to see the danger in the first two stereotypes. They tend to influence the way teachers, parents, peers and society in general classify, justify and treat whichever group is represented by the stereotype. I'm not sure enough people give enough thought to the third, equally dangerous, stereotype."

"Few artifacts of formal learning are as iconic as the letter grade. What can I do to get an A? She's a C student. He's always gotten As and Bs in all of his classes. Then we turn the letters into numbers-letter grades become averages of letter grades, which, when calculated, determined whether or not a learner qualifies to play sports, get into college, or thinks of him or herself as "smart.""

"I have a 45-minute commute to Knapp Elementary School each morning. Aside from sipping on my coffee, I'll tune into Philly sports radio, some Mumford & Sons or maybe even some local news. However, in December, my commute took a more reflective turn when I discovered an edu-podcast called #EdChat Radio that is now helping me think deeper in a quiet space away from the presence of students, teachers, parents and community members. As an educator and learner, making time to reflect on where your learning community is hitting or missing the mark is invaluable. "