Cheerleading Performance Task (Part 1)

Early understanding

See Item alignment guide to determine which questions on Part 2: Cheerleading Headgear Assessment are aligned to which crosscutting concepts and related pieces of disciplinary core ideas.

Target understanding

Design a solution to a problem to reduce the damage to an object in a collision (by reducing peak forces) by considering the properties of different materials and shapes being used to serve particular functions.

Strong

• See Item alignment guide to determine which questions on Part 2: Cheerleading Headgear Assessment are aligned to which crosscutting concepts and related pieces of disciplinary core ideas.
• See Part 2 Key: Cheerleading Headgear Assessment for scoring guidance and anticipated responses to the related questions on Part 2: Cheerleading Headgear Assessment.
• Watch the video with your class to see the kinds of movements that the cheerleading athletes experience.
• Part 1 Here are three different headgear devices that are currently being marketed as protection from potential concussions in cheerleading.
• The headgear devices shown above were initially designed for other sports, and then people started using them for cheerleading.
• 1a. If you were a protective headgear device designer evaluating the materials being used in another company’s design, what properties or materials would you expect to see in a good protective device if it were cut open?

Gaps

• If students agree (support the base person’s claim): Students must argue that there is a contact force on the head from the headband as it is compressed and makes contact with the base person.
• Optional (if students are referring to design #1): In the case where there was a cushioning material shape with surface area that was different between one surface it was in contact with versus another, it may have further reduced the amount of force on one object by spreading that force over a larger area.
• If students disagree (refute the base person’s claim): Students must claim that the headband does not protect the entire head, so it is possible that the two heads would collide without the headband experiencing the contact force between both heads during the collision.