The FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa on 11 June.

As always, there’s plenty of speculation about who might win the trophy!

According to the FIFA ranking, Brazil are the best team in the world at the moment, but does this mean they’ll win?

Argentina came third in the last World Cup in 2006, but won the Under-20 World Cup in Will these winning players now carry the team through to the final?

Which do you think will be the top four teams in South Africa? Who will be in the final? Who’s going to win?

It’s in the News! South Africa 2010 Teacher Notes

South Africa 2010 Introduction: You can’t miss the World Cup taking place in South Africa this year. The first match takes place on 11 June, with the final on 11 July – the world will go football crazy for at least a month! This resource provides students with data about some of the teams competing in the competition and invites the students to use the data to offer a reasoned argument predicting who they think will win the famous trophy. Data given includes the FIFA world ranking of international teams, data from the International Federation of Football History and Statistics about the strongest team coaches and national leagues and figures from previous head-to-head matches between some of the top teams. Content objectives: This context provides the opportunity for teachers and students to explore a number of objectives. Some that may be addressed are: interpret results involving uncertainty and prediction identify the necessary information to understand or simplify a context or problem; represent problems, making correct use of symbols, words, diagrams, tables and graphs; use appropriate procedures and tools, including ICT justify the mathematical features drawn from a context and the choice of approach; generate fuller solutions by presenting a concise, reasoned argument using symbols, diagrams, graphs and related explanations review and refine own findings and approaches on the basis of discussions with others; look for and reflect on other approaches and build on previous experience of similar situations and outcomes. Process objectives: These will depend on the amount of freedom you allow your class with the activity. It might be worth considering how you’re going to deliver the activity and highlighting the processes that this will allow on the diagram below:

Activity: The activity asks students to make predictions based on a number of pieces of data about the teams competing in the World Cup. Some of the data is likely to be useful while some (such as the most expensive players) might prove a distraction. Students are asked to use the given data to make a prediction of which teams they think will be in the top four, who they think will be in the final and who they think will win the competition. The emphasis for this is more likely to be on the students creating a justified and reasoned argument using data than manipulating the data itself (although some initial sorting might prove useful). Ideally this activity will be carried out before the World Cup gets underway or in the very early stages when fresh data is limited. Students’ predictions could be displayed and refined through the competition. Differentiation: You may decide to change the level of challenge for your group. To make the task easier you could consider: scaffolding the task – breaking the analysis into manageable chunks to focus on for short lesson episodes or sifting through the data, only giving the more useful figures asking only for an oral justification rather than a written one providing a writing frame for the type and level of written justification that you expect. To make the task more complex you could consider: reducing the scaffolding for the task – leaving the students to decide independently how to go about making their predictions asking for a written justification explaining the mathematical model that the students have developed. This task offers plenty of opportunities for developing students’ skills in justifying and this might be a priority objective for the lesson. This resource is designed to be adapted to your requirements. Working in groups: This activity lends itself to paired work and small group work and, by encouraging students to work collaboratively, it is likely that you will allow them access to more of the key processes than if they were to work individually. You will need to think about how your class will work on this task. Will they work in pairs, threes or larger groups? If pupils are not used to working in groups in mathematics you may wish to spend some time talking about their rules and procedures to maximise the effectiveness and engagement of pupils in group work (You may wish to look at the SNS Pedagogy and practice pack Unit 10: Guidance for groupwork). You may wish to encourage the groups to delegate different areas of responsibility to specific group members. Assessment: You may wish to consider how you will assess the task and how you will record your assessment. This could include developing the assessment criteria with your class. You might choose to focus on the content objectives or on the process objectives. You might decide that this activity lends itself to comment only marking or to student self assessment. If you use the APP model of assessment then you might use this activity to help you in building a picture of your students’ understanding. Assessment criteria to focus on might be: use their own strategies within mathematics and in applying mathematics to practical contexts (Using and Applying Mathematics level 4) draw simple conclusions of their own and give an explanation of their reasoning (Using and Applying Mathematics level 5) solve problems and carry through substantial tasks by breaking them into smaller, more manageable tasks, using a range of efficient techniques, methods and resources, including ICT; give solutions to an appropriate degree of accuracy (Using and Applying Mathematics level 6).

Probing questions: You may wish to introduce some points into the discussion which might include: What’s the most important set of data? Is any of the data irrelevant? Can you convince me that … will win the tournament? How might someone counter that argument? How accurate do you think your predictions are? You will need: The PowerPoint presentation and the resource sheets showing the data.resource sheets The first two slides set the scene. The third and fourth slides offer very simple reasons why Brazil or Argentina might be expected to win. The final slide sets the task asking students, “Which do you think will be the top four teams in South Africa? Who will be in the final? Who’s going to win?”