Bouncing Through Percentages and Probability Ambar Paulino and Christina Raiti

Topic  Bouncing Through Percentages and Probability will serve to help students illustrate their creativeness, practice, and master fractions, percentages and probability skills. While most teachers are struggling to calm their kids down and separate the “madness” on the court from the classroom affairs, Bouncing Through Mathematics will serve to intrigue students by allowing them to follow their favorite player and learn basic math skills through the appropriate use of the NCAA tournament.

Context  Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (Hartford, CT)  6 th Grade class  20 students in class  Mathematics/ English Language Literacy  50 minutes/Day, one time a week over a course of five weeks  Each Basketball related lesson will be taught on the Monday of each week and reinforced for about five minutes on the Monday which follows.  Takes place during the whole month of March (NCAA March Madness)  Men’s and Women’s Tournament Brackets are observed  Not discriminating against any higher/lower tracked students

Objectives  Students will learn how to relate their foul shot results into basic fraction concepts  Students will assess a female or male basketball player and use their statistics to demonstrate their understanding of percentage skills  Students will analyze NCAA brackets to supplement probability  Students will defend and judge his/her assigned basketball players through a presentation

Justifications  Bloom’s Taxonomy  Level 2: Understand ratios  Level 3: Apply ratio and rate Language  Level 4: Analyze and Find Percent of a quantity per 100  Common Core State Standards  CCSS.Math.Content.6.RP.A.3c Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent. CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.1 Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers.

Justifications (cont.)  Common Core State Standards  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information.  Connecticut Frameworks: Mathematics Curriculum Standards  12a., 21.b., 25.a.,

5-Week Plan Week 1 (Monday) Week 2 (Monday) Week 3 (Monday) Week 4 (Monday) Week 5 (Monday) Objectives: Students will learn to relate their foul shot results into basic fractions Students will choose a basketball player to analyze later on throughout the curriculum Activities: Foul shots in the gym (groups of 5 per basket) 10 foul shots per kid Short 5 minute video introducing NCAA tournament Choose player on the way out of classroom Homework: Come up with one fun fact about March Madness Objectives: Students will analyze their player’s personal statistics and use them to be introduced to percentages Student’s will master percentage skills by working in smaller groups and comparing their player’s statistics for that week’s games Activities: 15 minutes of analyzing a stats sheet and what different terms mean Break up into small groups for fifteen minutes and make flash cards dealing with personal stats Objectives: Students will observe and interpret the bracket as a whole Students will create their ideal bracket Students will demonstrate their understanding of probability by using the bracket Activities: Fill out small, fun worksheet dealing with probability in partners Probability video introducing them to basic concepts of probability Contest dealing with who can find the probability of their team wining the tournament Objectives: Students will compose their own study guide comprised of questions dealing with fractions, percentages, and probability Students will create word problems dealing with real basketball scenarios and their particular players Activities: Create their own study guides Split into partners and test each other with their sample questions Rubric should be handed out at the end of class Objectives: Students will defend their players and design a final project dealing with why his/her player should be drafted into the NBA/WNBA Students will use math to interpret their statistics and give logical reasons to support their players Students will listen and ask questions about guest Speaker Wendy Davis’s speech Activities: Students will listen to guest speaker Wendy Davis Students will present their final projects

Activities: Lesson 1  First 25 minutes will be spent in the gym  Split the class into roughly four groups of five students in each group  Groups should be picked at random, (Vary by gender)  Each group will use a different basket; one ball per group  Groups will take two shots and rotate until every student has taken ten shots  Have each student take a total of ten foul shots & record their outcome (?/10)  After every member in the group has taken ten shots, the students will return to the classroom and the teachers will manipulate their results to introduce the concept of fractions. Teacher’s will use the numbers as examples and will show the students a fraction is the same as saying shots made over shots taken.  Once forty minutes have gone by, students will be shown a small clip introducing the NCAA March Madness tournament in an attempt to excite them about the upcoming lessons  On their way out of class, with about a minute left, students will choose a random NCAA basketball player (out of a hat) which they will analyze throughout the remaining of the Bouncing Through Mathematics Unit

Activities: Lesson 3  Students are to receive a copy of the entire NCAA bracket for the men and women  A lesson will be taught but instead of numbers every concept will be referring to the bracket itself  (playing time example)  A quick five-minute video will be shown to sum up the basic principle of probability without taking into account other factors  The teacher will tell the class that the first person to figure out the probability of his/her player’s team winning the entire tournament can win his/her own basketball.  Students will be asked to work with one other partner and together they will fill out a fun worksheet  Once worksheet is completed student’s will receive script  Take turns teaching  No quiz!

Assessment/Evaluation Students having a visual presentation (poster, advertisement, brochure, with quick facts about their chosen player) Students will present their basketball player in a One-minute presentation and give reasons as to why their assigned Basketball player should be given priority in the NBA Draft Their argument will be backed up by statistical data they find on the internet. The prior lessons are supposed to equip the students with the knowledge to enable them to understand player’s statistics Students are urged to use class time and utilize the computers provided by the school to print out media (pictures, statistics, biographical information TCWB Coach Wendy Davis will be in attendance

Rubric and Grading  Students will have the opportunity to create an advertisement, poster or, one- minute skit arguing whether or not his/her player should be drafted into the WNBA/NBA.  All claims must be backed up by statistical research and students must show their knowledge by incorporating the means at which they got their facts and the steps they took to produce them.  Statistics taken straight from online team rosters will result in a failing grade.  Projects will be graded less on whether or not the player should be drafted, but more on the student’s understanding and ability to use the material to be persuasive.

Resources  Freire, Paulo. "Chapter 2." Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, Print.  Gym (Provided by the school; if the school does not have the facilities, locate the nearest public basketball court)  Youtube.com (NCAA Introductory Clip/Probability Clip)    Connecticut Frameworks for Mathematics  Common Core State Standards  Bloom’s Taxonomy  NCAA.com  Coach Wendy Davis, Former Player at Uconn and head coach of Trinity College Women’s Basketball