Statistical Understanding Through Competitive Decisions and Results or Should We, in the Words of Nike “Just Do It”?

Lew Davidson, Mathematics, Mallard Creek High School

Final Unit (PDF)     Implementing Common Core Standards (PDF)

200 Word Synopsis

This Curriculum Unit, intended for experienced AP Statistics teachers use at the start of a course, proposes a framework for teaching both to enhance student engagement and to enable a deeper understanding of statistical reasoning. It provides sports-based classroom activities to address specific knowledge requirements and to inspire student generated collaborative group projects based on sports or more general competitive situations. The intuitively inspiring merging of Sports and Math is evolved into the Framework of Competitive Decision Making and Math to address many diverse student interests.
Provided student activities address 1) personalization of AP Statistics incorporating key trends, 21st century skills, needed statistical insight, and the objectives in the CMS Strategic Plan 2018; 2) testing for the alleged use of performance enhancing drugs in Andrus Veerpalu’s Gold Medal 2006 Olympics performance; 3) the current high school football playoff brackets for the NC State Championships to explore associations between a team’s ability to dominate Won-Loss standings and the size of its student population; and 4) what play to use on a fourth down.