NFL 49ers Unveil Digital Playbook To Aid Steam Online Learning During Pandemic

The San Francisco 49ers have expanded the NFL team's interactive digital playbook that teaches STEAM through football with at-home workouts during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 49ers EDU Digital Playbook, launched in mid-April, is an interactive multimedia interface designed to provide K-8 students with a variety of learning activities centered around the game of football.

The platform touches on a broad spectrum of STEAM subjects, including science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

A second, expanded version of the playbook was introduced May 21 by Kyle Juszczyk, which includes new topics, "like the science of weather and how it impacts the game and how we're working hard at Levi's Stadium to stay environmentally conscious."

The 49ers have used the standard version of the playbook as part of the annual EDU STEAM field trip, where more than 60,000 Bay Area students and teachers are brought to Levi's Stadium to participate in live lessons.

But with the busiest part of this year's 49ers EDU field trip season canceled because of the pandemic, the team re-created the playbook with "interactive pieces to make it relevant for at home."

"It doesn't just work as a straight 'put it online' — we had to do a lot of thinking about the right way to support kids learning about the engineering design process," 49ers EDU Director Jesse Lovejoy told The 74.

Activities range from football physics that explain interactions between matter and energy during a game to an equipment design challenge that provides space for students to come up with their own designs and illustrations for standard football equipment (cleats, shoulder pads, gloves, and a helme