March Madness

How can you use "March Madness" in the classroom? Here are some ideas from Sue Clark, the Math Specialist at FSDB.

Ideas:
* Study the seedings/records
* Figure the number of teams, number of games for the entire tournament, and number of games played by the champ
* Locate the schools and their locations
* Figure the distances from the schools to the Final Four destination (Twin Cities-Minn.)
* Use a map to look at scale
* Study the point system
* Figure the average number of points per game, and the average number of games played for the season
* Estimate the total number of points for the entire tournament
* Compare and order scores
* Figure the average height of players on a team
* Research the history of the tournament
* Figure the statistics and percentages
* Study the probability and odds
* From the research, create trivia questions for 1) the tournament and, 2) basketball (the sport)
* Figure the weight, circumference, sphere, etc. of the basketball (for both men and women)
* Figure court measurements
* Work on time skills by looking at the way time is kept during games
* Look at the characteristics of the players and write a description
* Work on newspaper skills for the research and for checking scores, game information, etc.
* Find out who/what the mascots are for each school
* What is the enrollment of each school? Compare the size of the school with how well they do in the tournament
* Design a logo for the tournament
* Design ads for the games/tournament
* Write game summaries and/or articles
* Find out the attendance at tournament sites and compare the sizes of the stadiums
* Compare the total points for the first round in the four different regions
* Which team scored the most points/ least points

Resources

That's the Way the Ball Bounces
This site from Exploratorium is specifically looking at baseballs, but the information is relevant to all balls. A few simple experiments demonstrate why balls bounce — or fail to bounce.

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Last Modified May 14, 2008
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