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Back to Math Fun (Volume 3) Lesson Plan

Math "Hoop-la"

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Subjects

  • Mathematics
    --Applied Math
    --Arithmetic
    --Statistics
  • Physical Education
    --Exercise/Movement

Grade

  • 3-5
  • 6-8

Brief Description

Real-life math! Students figure the mean, median, and mode of basketball free-throw data.

Objectives

Students will

  • learn the meaning of/differences between mean, median, and mode.
  • apply their knowledge of mean, median, and mode to real-life data.

Keywords

mean, median, mode, average, basketball, throw, physical education, fitness

Materials Needed

  • basketball and hoop

Lesson Plan

This math activity begins on the playground or in the gym. Give each student a set number of free throws at a basketball hoop; ten throws might be a good number for most ages. Have students keep a record of the number of successful free throws made by each of their classmates. Then move the activity back into the classroom. Students use the real data they collected to compute the mean, median, and mode of that data set.

  • mean -- also sometimes called the average; to find the mean, add all the numbers and divide the answer by the number of students
  • median -- the number in the exact middle of the data set; for example, in the data set 2, 3, 7, 12, 19, 7 is the number which is exactly in the middle, so 7 is the median
  • mode -- the number that appears most often in the data set; for example, in the data set 2, 3, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2 , the number 2 appears more than any other number in the set

See a classrooom dialogue for teaching about mean, median, and mode.

Assessment

After completing the real-math project, give students a data set for the free-throw results of a fictional class. Have students figure the mean, median, and mode of that data.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

MATHEMATICS: Number and Operations
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-NUM.3-5.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.3-5.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
GRADES 6 - 8
NM-NUM.6-8.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.6-8.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates
GRADES 9 - 12
NM-NUM.9-12.1 Understand Numbers, Ways of Representing Numbers, Relationships Among Numbers, and Number Systems
NM-NUM.9-12.3 Compute Fluently and Make Reasonable Estimates

MATHEMATICS: Data Analysis and Probability
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-DATA.3-5.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
GRADES 6 - 8
NM-DATA.6-8.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
GRADES 9 - 12
NM-DATA.9-12.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data

MATHEMATICS: Connections
GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-CONN.PK-12.3 Recognize and Apply Mathematics in Contexts Outside of Mathematics

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEALTH: Physical Education
GRADES K - 12
NPH.K-12.3 Physical Activity
NPH.K-12.4 Physical Fitness

Find more math fun activities in this week's Lesson Planning article, Math Fun (Volume 3).

You will find many additional math activities in Education World's Math Center.