By Jo Boaler | youcubed at Stanford University
Hello youcubians,
Last week’s live event at Maples Stadium, where children who attended were invited to be data recorders, was a huge success! Youcubed partnered with Stanford Women’s basketball team to introduce students to sports data analytics. My undergraduate students distributed data cards and helped the children, and several teachers brought classes of students with them. Mary Ashley Stevenson, one of the Stanford team, invited students to be the team’s data recorders, which was shown on the jumbotron before the game. After the game, players autographed the children’s data cards.
Now it is over to you—as we are sharing a basketball unit for grades 4 (ish) and up, sponsored by The Sports Analytics Club Program, Inc.
Who is this unit of lessons for? Any student in grade 4 and above. One of the goals of these lessons is to show students that data is everywhere - you don’t have to be an athlete to be involved in sports. Sports Data Analytics is a huge field.
Who can teach these lessons? Any teacher—you DO NOT have to know basketball. Students will happily lead the discussions and explain the rules to each other. All the information needed is in the videos made by Stanford basketball players.
The goal of these lessons is to allow students to explore and make decisions with data through basketball. The lessons culminate with students conducting their own data investigation—choosing their dream team.
This unit of lessons is an example of an approach called “teaching to big ideas” which I explain in the latest edition of EdWeek. If you would like to learn more about this teaching approach, join us in the new year for professional development! We are kicking off 2025 with a new workshop based on the ideas in my book “Math-ish,” and in the spring we will have training for our high school data science course and our summer camp curriculum. The full calendar is below, click on any set of dates to learn more and register:
January 28-29: Math-ish Workshop for K-16 Teachers (in person at Stanford)
March 19-June 4 (3:45-5:45 pm Pacific on select Wednesdays): Teaching the Youcubed Data Science High School Course (live online, sessions will be recorded)
April 14-15: Teaching the Youcubed Summer Camp Curriculum (in person at Stanford)
April 28-29: Teaching the Youcubed Summer Camp Curriculum (live online, sessions will be recorded)
September 9-10: Mathematics Leadership Summit (in person at Stanford)
I am excited for the January workshop, where I will be giving free Math-ish plushies to all attendees—I hope to see you there!
Viva la Maths Revolution,
Jo & the youcubed team