Using biomechanics of concussion as an anchoring phenomenon for teaching and learning about mechanical waves

We used the Ambitious Science Teaching framework to develop, implement, and revise a unit in which students coordinate key ideas across physics and neurobiology to construct a scientific explanation of a complex phenomenon. The anchoring phenomenon for this month-long unit involves an athlete who sustains a concussion during a soccer game. Throughout the unit, students focus on a system consisting of the soccer player's head, i.e., skull, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain. They learn about the structure and function of the brain and neurons, relationship of external contact forces on the system to internal buoyant forces within the system, propagation of mechanical waves through different mediums, and reflection and transmission of waves across medium boundaries. At the start of the unit, students develop an initial model for how the soccer player's concussion happened. As the unit progresses, students revise their models based on evidence from experiments conducted during class. Ultimately, students use diagrams and language to construct evidence-based explanations for how a head injury causes concussion symptoms. Students' final explanations include depictions and descriptions of wave motion in the soccer player's head at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. In this presentation, we will present the objectives, deliverables, success criteria, and plan for this unit. We will also show examples of student work.