Sharp Tack Productions: Maths and Soccer

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Reprinted from the June 2002 issue of the United Kingdom Mathematical Association Newsletter with the kind permission of Peter Ransom, Editor.

MATHS AND FOOTBALL
From Sharp Tack Productions

The pack available offers a 26 minute video, 10 pages of teaching notes, 8 worksheets (with answers) and 8 pages of useful ideas and statistics.

The video itself is in the style of an Australian soap opera and Key Stage 3 pupils will like the rhetoric between mathematical sketches. It immediately enhances the role of Mathematics in football with this great quote: "If we win the game today, it will not be because we played the better football, it will be because we understand the Mathematics of the game better than the opposition!"

The video can be used in its full duration, however I feel it may be more effective if it is used in 2, 3 or 4 different sessions. There is a slight lack of mathematical correctness, i.e. no labelling of graphs and units used incorrectly, but as a learning resource it is generally very useful and certainly manages to show Mathematics in a 'real life' context.

The work pack is well presented and is related to the new Framework for teaching mathematics (it tackles the three part lesson-offering ideas for starters and plenaries). The worksheets are easy to follow and are well differentiated - covering levels 3 to 6 with possible extensions to level 7 or even 8.

Clear lesson objectives are given within the pack and it definitely encompasses the whole curriculum, covering Number and Algebra, Shape, and Space and Data Handling. It also (inadvertently) will provide some good preparation for Key Stage 3 pupils re the new GCSE Maths coursework requirements involving Statistics.

Overall this resource is a good example of numeracy being used across the curriculum and I thoroughly recommend it.

Paul Michelmore.