Touchdown! Helping students “Score” by integrating Fantasy Football with Math.

The concept behind it all… Fantasy sports are a hit worldwide with over 17 million participants in the U.S. alone. Fantasy sports are dynamic games in which students create fantasy teams by picking their favorite real-life players, following their player’s statistics, and computing their teams’ total points using algebraic or non-algebraic methods specifically designed to complement the math skills they are learning.

How do you play Fantasy Sports and Mathematics? Fantasy Football is a game where students draft and

manage fantasy teams of professional athletes, who earn points for them based on their performance on the field. Each Friday before you leave your team will decide your starting lineup for the weekend. The students’ fantasy teams in room 116 will compete against room 118 with the goal being to accumulate the greatest number of points before Christmas Break (December 13th). Students track their teams’ progress by reading box scores in newspapers or online that I will provide each Tuesday in class. Each week, students compute the points earned by their players and synergize creating a variety of graphs based on their teams' performance. Practice worksheets will be integrated during class that will reinforce concepts.

What types of concepts can students practice with the fantasy sports programs?

Some of the concepts incorporated (and feel free to include your own): ratio and proportion, cumulative frequency tables, mean, median, mode, and range, fractions, decimals, and whole numbers, critical thinking skills, problem solving

Higher level concepts include: summations, factorials, positive exponents, negative exponents, area and circumference of circles, scientific notation, linear equations, absolute value, and data depiction, as well as several worksheets that deal with percentages.

Have fun adapting the stats and curriculum to your grade level!

How does it help?

Fantasy Sports and Mathematics brings excitement to the classroom! Students will get the opportunity to draft their teams (I will pass out the top 200 players), decide on starting lineups (within their group), and keep track of their players they started and players they benched. Students will find that Fantasy Football can be fun and engaging while they are learning the standards!

Benefits of Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football leads to a student-centered classroom rather than a teacher-led classroom.

Fantasy sports provide students with decision-making skills, contributing to their social and cognitive development.

Fantasy sports can facilitate the transition into the abstract world of algebra. Once students understand how to compute points using a non-algebraic method, teachers have the option of introducing linear equations that include variables.

Fantasy sports are based on real-world data, and students can follow their players on television, in newspapers, or online. This allows them to make connections between math at school and math in the real world; research indicates that learning is facilitated when this occurs.

The content can be customized according to the skill level of students. The innovative curriculum helps to alter the negative perception many

students have toward mathematics. Mastery learning is facilitated because students get multiple exposures to

concepts. There is little preparation time once the game begins.

Why is Fantasy Football so Fun?

The team is in charge Parent involvement Draft Day with snacks and cook-outs Follow your players on-line, TV, newspaper Competition among friends and class A fun way to implement the curriculum Winner gets a Free Pizza Party!

How it works in my class?

116 VS 118 Draft day (sometime after Labor Day) Every Friday you pick your roster On Tuesday we go over your team points for the week and

work on math worksheets that integrate football Keep track of points based on the point system (enhance

learning skills with the curriculum and players’ stats.) Work on integers, algebra, number and computation

cumulative frequency, and plots Create a Team Pennant Team with most points at the end of season wins

(cumulative frequency) Season ending “pizza party” for the winners (bought by the

losing teacher)

Point Break Down TD=6 pts FG=3 pts XP=1 10 rushing/receiving yards =1

pt 25 passing yards=1pt A thrown interception is -3

points Defense points are awarded

as such:0-10 points get you 10 points 11-20 gets you 8 points 21-30 gets you 6 pointsOver 30 points you lose 3 points A sack=1 pt A Defensive interception=3pts

What you need to do?

Do a bit of research to find out what players you want

Use your math maps folder to keep all the worksheets in it (or get a new Fantasy Football Folder)

You will draft a total of 20 players (You will start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Defense, 1 Kicker)

Your team will create a customized pennant to represent your team! Cavender’s Champs vs. Knight’s Squad

Each Friday (unless a game is on Thursday) you will pick a starting lineup (Pay attention to the BYE weeks!!!)

Figure out how many points you would get for the following scenarios.

Figure out how many points you would get for the following scenarios.

Your QB throws for 312 yards and 3 touchdowns…

Your RB has 25 rushing yards and 2 TD’s, he also has 47 yards receiving and a TD.

Your defense wins 24-10 and has 3 int’s, 4 sacks and your kicker kicks 3 field goals and 4 extra points

Sample questions

• Q: If a quarterback had annual quarterback ratings of 88.64, 101.88, 76.75, 90.09 and 93.53, what would be his average rating for the last five years? A: The answer is 90.178. Add the scores from each of the years and divide by 5.

• Q: During Week 10, the ratio of Antonio Gates' points to Chris Chambers' points was 13:21. If Chambers earned 7/8 points, how many points did Gates earn? A: The answer is 13/24. You multiply 7/8 by 13/21. 

Measurement

Joseph Addai gained 131 yards rushing. How many feet did he gain? How many inches? How many centimeters?

131 x 3 = 393 feet 393 x 12 = 4,716 inches 4,716 x 2.54 = 11,978.64 cm. (2.54 cm. = 1 in.)

Division with Whole Numbers If the New England Patriots spent

7,200 minutes practicing in training camp, how many hours did they spend practicing?

Answer 7,200 / 60 = 120 hours

Permutations and Combinations If Coach Mike Shanahan started

two of his five running backs, how many combinations could he choose from?

Answer 5! / 2!(5-2)! = 10

How many points did you end up with?

Position Passing Yards

TD’s Rushing Yards

TD’s Receiving Yards

TD’s Defense Total points allowed

Interceptions

Sacks

QB 267 3 14 1 3

WR 7 114 2

WR 87 1

WR 23 72

RB 141 1 37

RB 99 3 17 1

DEF 21 2 4

K 3 FG’s 2 XP

Cross-curricular extension

With MTSS being at the forefront of education, we have adapted lessons that fit around FFB. Within any given week students’ read stories about their team or players and work on paraphrasing, graphic aids, prefix/suffix, and any other form of text structure we introduce.

ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2555829503716751283#

Research Middle school instructional practices often are not developmentally appropriate

for young adolescents (Eccles, Wigfield, Midgley, Reuman, MacIver & Feldhaufer, 1993). Students at this age possess the ability to reason, evaluate, and become autonomous. However, many school environments consist primarily of rote learning and other low-level cognitive processes, as well as tightly controlled environments. At the same time, social relationships take on new importance for adolescents, yet many teachers enforce work in isolation (Eccles, et al., 1993).

Students will never truly engage in learning if they are not allowed independence in the classroom (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991). In response, Fantasy Sports and Mathematics addresses the social and cognitive needs of middle-school students in large part because it is based on a pedagogy that is student-centered. Students work collaboratively in groups to draft players, compute their weekly points, check their peers' answers, and create their graphs. Consequently, students become active learners. This socially interactive classroom approach provides for higher levels of thought processes (Barwell, Leung, Morgan, & Street, 2002). When students are allowed to work in small groups, student achievement increases (Burns, 1988).

Research

Scaffolded instruction improves transfer of responsibility (Gallimore & Tharp, 1990). As students gradually learn, teachers withdraw so the transfer of responsibility for learning lies with students. This transfer holds students accountable for their learning and is characteristic of a mastery-goal structure which leads to lower incidences of avoidance strategies (Turner, Meyer, Anderman, Midgley, Green, & Kang, 2002).

Fantasy Sports and Mathematics places responsibility for learning on students. The teachers' role is as a guide, and students rely on their peers for assistance. The teachers' role is less so students can become active learners and negotiate their own mathematical meanings. Students in autonomous classroom environments enjoy mathematical tasks more than students who are in authoritative classroom formats (Deci, 1975; Deci & Ryan, 1987).

Research

Increasing students' interest in mathematics and becoming aware of the importance of mathematics in life are among the least emphasized goals of high school teachers (Weiss, 1990). Teachers' favorite instructional methods are lecture, discussion, and textbook work, while their least favorite pedagogical methods are use of hands-on materials, use of computers, and group work.

Fantasy Sports and Mathematics attempts to bridge this dichotomy between teacher attitudes and characteristics of standards-based curricula by providing hands-on activities along with the inclusion of technology, both of which are student-centered activities that promote a higher level of student interest (Weiss, 1990). Indeed, interest and achievement influence each other (Schiefele et al., 1995).

Research

Visual imagery is a major factor in information processing (Bishop, 1989). Meaning is constructed cognitively as verbal, visual, or a combination of both (Kosslyn, 1983). The ability of students to understand and solve problems may be influenced by the method in which the material is presented. Most individuals' schemas are more powerful for pictures than for words (Larkin et al., 1987). Student understanding may be facilitated if the schemas involved in the learning process are associated with pictures or diagrams because the cognitive load associated with visual aids does not entail as much working memory as does the cognitive load with words (Lowrie et al., 2001). A major difference between Fantasy Sports and Mathematics and traditional math units is that many practice worksheets are designed to use in conjunction with a graph, thereby addressing the visual learners. In addition, Fantasy Sports and Mathematics' hands-on features (graphing, the use of newspapers, and the use of technology) address all learning styles. The inclusion of all learning modalities helps to shift the environment from a transmission model to a knowledge construction model, a goal of NCTM (NCTM 1989, 1991).

Testimonies

"What a fun way to engage sports-lovers in mathematics!"

Danica McKellar Actress and author of “Math Doesn’t Suck” and “Kiss My Math”

"Each year I have roughly 83% of my students meet or exceed state standards in math and I know it's because of fanstasy football. Thank you so much! My students enjoy math so much more now!!"

KellyLynn C.4th gradeLas Vegas, NV

continued

"My kids are having a BLAST with this! I have honestly never had a math class where students are engaged for an entire hour doing their fantasy football calculations. I even had a substitute one day and she wrote me a note saying she couldn't believe how there was no messing around and everyone was engaged the whole time."

Donene R.Teacher - 5th gradeKuna, ID

"I am very excited...so excited, that I almost didn't have time to have my own fantasy football league!! Also, just to share a quick story...I had a girl in my Algebra class misplaced...she should be in Geometry...which in our curriculum is higher than Algebra...well, when she figured this out, she begged me not to have her switch classes...she said, "I am so excited about Fantasy Football, my team looks great!" I thought that was really cool!!"

Dan C.Teacher – 9th gradePittsburgh, PA

Your task… 5 different color folders for

the 5 teams Each team has 1

newspaper and 1 roster with your starting players highlighted

Each team has the score sheet we will be doing for this challenge

In your groups figure out your points for your starters and total points for your team and put them on the “Football Field” paper

Also on the “Football Field” find the percentage of points each player/defense scored for you

Then try and create a circle graph showing your player’s percentages

Find the average of ALL your wide receivers (not just the starters)

Create fractions (simplified) and ratios for your RB (ALL of them not just the starters)

Take your QB’s (All of them) points and create a prime factorization tree

MTSS: Read the sport’s page selection of the Kansas City Chiefs and complete the following:

1.)Create a character web with 3 attributes11.) Create a problem and solution T chart111.) In 25 words or less paraphrase the

article and include a simile in your grabber sentence

The winning team…

The team who scored the most points look inside your folder and see which one has a STAR drawn on it! That person wins the prize!

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