Back in February, NBC Learn — the educational arm of the TV network — and the National Science Foundation (NSF) teamed up to create a video-based website that gave kids an understanding of the math and science behind the athletic events in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The site, Learn the Science of the Olympic Winter Games, was a big success, receiving more than a million unique page hits, the New York Times blog The Fifth Down reports.

So, now that NBCLearn and the NSF have shown that science and sports do mix, they’re joining forces with the NFL to produce a 10-part documentary that examines the physics and other science and math involved in pro football. The Science of NFL Football series can be viewed for free at NBCLearn.com/NFL or at Science360.gov, and it’s geared toward both middle and high school students.

The site features top players talking about how their bodies feel during a play, the Times blog explains, then has scientists explaining the science and math behind those plays as they’re rerun in super-slo-mo. Videos and digital information are today the best “pathway” to the brains of teenagers, Soraya Gage, executive producer at NBCLearn, tells the blog. “Getting athletes to talk about what they do hooks the kids and the students. And when it’s coming from an idol, a sporting hero, they sit up and listen.”

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Tags: National Science Foundation, Olympics, Sports, Sports Engineering, Television, Videos