For example, designing athletic shoes is an interesting job that requires either a direct knowledge of science, particularly sports science, or the ability to work with scientists to incorporate current research into a shoe's design. Learning about sports research and how it applies to the different components of a shoe is usually one of the first assignments of a designer starting a job at an athletic shoe company. Most shoe companies, in fact, have some type of research group that brings designers up to speed with the current research in sports.

Once a designer is brought up to speed on sport science, she usually works as a member of a team. A team at a shoe company may be comprised of a sport researcher, a materials scientist, a product line manager, and the designer. It is the designer's job to work up a drawing of the team's design that will ultimately be built in a limited number for testing. After testing, the design may be refined or accepted as is and, finally, mass produced. The design drawings will also be used to "sell" others in the company, like the marketing and sales department, on the merits of the new shoe.

Slam Dunk Science is intended to provide an introduction to many aspects of sport science as they relate to shoe design. The guide is laid out as follows:
Shoe Design 101	An overview of the parts of a shoe and how science impacts their design.
Lab Tools	A more well heeled view of the tools and methods sport scientists use.
Activities	A series of flexible activities ranging from designing a poster presentation of a new basketball shoe to building a "state-of-the-art" sport research lab in your science classroom.
Glossary	A list of terms that one stumbles across when pursuing the sports research and the perfect shoe design.
References	A list of sources you can go to and people you might run to for help.

This guide is meant to provide a background for teachers to integrate sport science, in particular, how it applies to athletic shoe design, into their classroom. By integrating the explanations of how science relates to shoe design and incorporating some of the activities included in this guide into the classroom, students will see how science might open up many doors for them while at the same time allowing them to stay involved in sports. They might not be able to make the winning shot at the buzzer in the NBA finals, but they might be able to play a crucial role in setting up that shot...