On February 19, a team of Science Cheerleaders from the New England area had the chance to teach the physics of stunting at the second day of the AAAS Family Science Days. SciCheers Hilary (Colgate University/Brown University), Theresa (New England Patriots), and a stunt group from MIT including assistant coach Kelly teamed up to share their love for science in a performance that put up some awesome stunts and brought down the house!
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is dedicated to advancing “science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.” Their annual meeting was held in Boston this year and the event included Family Science Days, which give kids of all ages the chance to interact with fun experiment demos, talk to professional scientists, and learn about ways that they can become involved in citizen science projects! Our SciStarter partners taught families how to identify ZomBees and participate in a NASA collaboration on clouds!
The Science Cheerleaders used the event as an opportunity to explain how basic physics principles can be used to make cheer performances better and safer. We started by getting the crowd pumped up by doing a science cheer and introducing ourselves, and then it was time for stunting! We demonstrated how applying forces correctly and using conservation of angular momentum allows us to toss our flyers in the air for a twist down and catch them safely. To learn more, download our free Science of Cheerleading eBook which goes into all this and more!
Stay tuned for more events to meet the Science Cheerleaders in Boston, coming soon!