Rethinking concussion education for a new generation of athletes

"Brandon Simmons, a captain for the Stanford Cardinal football team, remembers sustaining his first concussion during a high school game in Arlington, Texas.

“I was heading off the quarterback, and my nature as a football player is really physical—I love to hit,” he said. “It was a loud collision, and everyone in the stands went, ‘Oooooh.’ It was a good play—normally I would’ve been hyped about it.”

But something felt off. “It was such a hard hit that the face mask on my helmet was bent, and my head was ringing,” he said. “I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what it was.” 

He finished the game—a risky move that likely increased his chance of further injury, he realizes now. But at the time he didn’t know enough to recognize the signs of a concussion or the potential consequences.

Earlier this year, by enrolling in an undergraduate course through Stanford’s Graduate School of Education (GSE), Simmons joined a groundbreaking effort to change the way high school athletes learn about concussion risks and symptoms. He and hundreds of students and faculty across the university are collaborating with TeachAids, a Palo Alto nonprofit, to develop new concussion education tools using virtual reality, 3D animation and other promising learning technologies.

The first module of the new curriculum, called CrashCourse, was released on September 8 at the USC-Stanford football game."