20 Basketball Links

Mike Gormans

Live Interactive Bracket – Watch the NCAA live interactive bracket for this year’s tournament. Note that this page also contains a printable bracket. Joining after season has started? Then download partially filled bracket... perhaps you need to start over!

NCAA Big Dance Basics – Take a look and get ideas from the STEM site eGFI. You will get hooked as your read their statement: “ From long-shot “Cinderella” teams to “field goal” averages, “giant killers” and “bracketology,” the NCAA Div. 1 men’s college basketball championship has generated a host of pet terms and traditions since it first tipped off in 1939”. This is a 2013 article …but still filled with great thoughts and ideas.

The Art of the Free Throw – It really is about STEM! Take a look at this eGFI article and video that really goes through the math and science of a free throw.

Basketball Physics – People have creating bracket to figure out who will be the best team in college basketball. With all this basketball on people’s minds, it’s a good time to look at some of the physics, math, and art behind the most exciting sport in March.

Science of Basketball - Basketball is considered the first sport that completely originated in the United States.  It was invented in December of 1891 when Dr. James Naismith nailed up some peach baskets in a gym.  Basketballs today are designed to bounce around the court and soar in an orange arc from your hands into the basket.  But were they always like this?  Why do they have those bumps on them?

Penny Basketball – A site that poses a lesson that involves penny basketball. Best of all, students learn how to make sense of the data they collect.

Basketball For Better Verse – This lesson from Education World provide students the opportunity to look at various basketball poems and the publish their own.

The Team at Home – Another lesson from Education World that allows students to locate an NCAA basketball tournament team on a map, research the relationship of the team’s name and mascot to the history and geography of the college. This is a great social studies lesson.

Who’s Number 1? Investigating the Math of Rankings – In this amazing lesson, students explore the use of quantitative ratings by examining how Division I college basketball teams are ranked, and how specific mathematical decisions can and do have significant consequences.

March Madness… Reading for information Lesson Plan – This is brought to you by Bright Hub Education. It contains a creative lesson plan that helps kids prepare for the reading proficiency test. It’s a great way to use the NCAA tournament to practice reading for information.

Thinking About The Future… A Poem of Possibilities – This resource from Read Write Think focuses on the poem “Ex-Basketball Player” by John Updike, analyzing the details and the format of the poem. From there students are then introduced to a writing assignment in which they write a poem about themselves in five years.

PBS Learning Media Basketball Lab - In this video from DragonflyTV, Jai and Jonathan investigate why some basketball shots go in and why others do not. They design an experiment involving three different players, all taking shots from the same position on a gym floor, and use a video camera to help them track and graph the arc of the shots as the ball approaches the hoop. Analysis of the collected data reveals that shots with a higher arc are successful more of the time.

Smithsonian March Madness – This is a wonderful exhibit from teh Smithsonian. Examine the multitude of March Madness articles.

James Naismith… Inventor of the Game of Basketball – This is another awesome activity from Read Write Think. Students look at the original rules of basketball, allowing a perfect opportunity for students to practice their expository reading and writing skills. Best of all, students end up with some their own innovation as they put together their own hand out to explain a game.

Should LeBron James Mow His Own Lawn? – Discover this lesson that explores absolute advantage, comparative advantage, specialization and trade with an example using professional basketball player LeBron James.

What were the Original Rules of Basketball?  Compare/contrast them with current rules.  What rules would you add/take away or change?  Use this website for your research.

PBS Learning Media Basketball Lessons and Video - Take a look at these amazing basketball resources that are free from PBS Learning Media. You will find wondeful multimedia and ideas for your project!

Math In Basketball – This is a fantastic lesson plan from Get the Math.  Using video segments and web interactives, students engage in an exploration of mathematics, specifically reasoning and sense making, to solve real world problems.  Best of all,  students focus on understanding the Big Ideas of Algebra: patterns, relationships, equivalence, and linearity.

PBL, Physics, Basketball, and Inquiring Minds – Check out this PBL unit with math and basketball.

Where Will it Go? – This is a lesson plan aimed at lower elementary allowing student prediction of where a ball will go when bounced. This is a perfect opportunity to use any ball… or perhaps a basketball?

Thanks for joining me on another reflection of 21st Century Learning! Please take a moment and follow me on Twitter (@mjgormans), I will return the favor and we will learn from one another. Again take a moment to subscribe this blog by email or RSS. Read below to see some upcoming articles and if you liked this article there is a button below for a retweet! As you  follow the NCAA Basketball Tournament make sure the real winner is your facilitation of 21st century educational transformation! Put the kids in center court! – Mike