Creating Fantasy Math Games

Listed below are some suggestions for creating sports fantasy games in your math classroom. All suggestions are simply ideas that can help you (or your students) produce some games that might be fun to use in the classroom. What we would like for you to do is send us some of the more detailed activities you have created so that other teachers in Tennessee can try them out and give us some feedback. Watch for chances to win cool stuff for you and your students in the future!

Long-Range Games

-Fantasy Leagues

Fantasy Leagues have become very popular just about everywhere in the world. Basically, a Fantasy League allows the students to become an owner of a sports team. Since we are primarily focusing on Tennessee sports, we would suggest letting the students obtain only Tennessee players (pro, college, or a combination of both) to be on their team.

After teams are selected, you or the students should decide what "point-values" will be assigned to different statistical events for score-keeping purposes (i.e. 2 pts for each touchdown a football player scores, 1 pt for every 10 pts a basketball player scores, etc....). You can create different fantasy leagues for different sports or create a fantasy league that will incorporate all the different sports in Tennessee.

These leagues can be formed by individual owners or group owners. Try it both ways and let us know what happens!

 

 In-Class Games

- Board Games

One of America’s favorite pastimes is playing board games. This activity lets the students work together in groups to create a board game of their favorite sport. The rules can be made up however each group decides. The idea is to have students create rules based on statistical probabilities they have observed through research or observation. For example, a baseball game might include the following rules for getting a hit: If the batter answers a math question correctly, the player will roll one (or 2 ) die to determine if a hit, out, or walk occurs. A 1,2 or 3 will result in a hit; A 4 or 5 will result in an out; A 6 will result in a walk.

If a hit occurs, then a second roll will determine how many bases the batter will receive.

 As you can see, these games could range from simple to very complex. We would like to see what games are created and will offer some incentives for some of the better games received.

These games, once created, can be useful for reviewing for a test, creating tournaments for practice or just plain fun! Have the different games, created by the different groups, played by each of the groups for a little variety.