lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian …€¦ · lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian...

LESSON IDEAS ON HOW TO CELEBRATE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL IN THE CLASSROOM

KEY LEARNING AREA: MATHEMATICS

NO. TITLE FOCUS SYNOPSIS TARGETED YEAR LEVELS

1 A day out at the footy

Money and financial mathematics

Have students research the costs associated with a day at the football for a family consisting of two parents and three children aged 17, 12 and 8 years old. Ask them to budget for what it might cost and discuss ways in which they can save money.

Years 3-4Years 5-6Years 7-8

2 Which is the most popular team?

Data representation and interpretation

Devise with the class a survey that will collect data on AFL club support at your school. Have students work in teams to survey each year level and the teaching and non-teaching staff. Ask student groups to collate data and present results in the school newsletter and (or) school assembly.

Years F-2Years 3-4Years 5-6Years 7-8

3 AFL shapes Shape Provide students with images, cartoons and (or) video of AFL football. Have them, in teams or individually, identify the shapes that exist in the visual media. As a class they should decide on the most common shape. How often does it appear in the media? They should also decide on the least common shape and determine how often it appears in the media. Are there any unconventional shapes that they can see? Are there any shapes that they know of that don’t appear in the media?

Years F-2Years 3-4

4 Match day multiplication

Number and place value

Have student groups challenge each other in an AFL multiplication quiz involving the six-times tables. Using multiplication facts charts and the goalkickers from the weekend’s games (six points for every goal kicked) have students devise questions that they will ask each other in the challenge.

Years 3-4Years 5-6

5 AFL angles Geometric reasoning

Show students a video of AFL players having a set shot at goal during a game. Using a point from the centre of the goal line to the point where the player kicks the ball, ask them to estimate what angle the player is taking his shot from.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

6 Take a punt Chance Show students a video of AFL players having a set shot at goal during a game. Prior to each kick, have students discuss the probability or chance of the goal being kicked. Take a vote that the event (kicking a goal) ‘will happen’, ‘won’t happen’ or ‘might happen’. Students should justify their views.


7 How many do you see?


Have a range of AFL images displayed on a data projector. Ask students to determine how many items/objects are in the group on display. For examples, how many players are flying for a mark, how many players are contesting for the ball etc.

Years F-1

8 Footy classified

Patterns and algebra

Have students classify associated objects that appear in AFL images or video. You can have them classify objects in any categories you wish. Some examples may include by colour, gender, living and non-living, teams, emotions, playing and non-playing participants etc.

Years F-2

9 Footy currency


Have students determine the range of denominations of Australian currency that can be used to pay for $25 ticket to the football. For example, the ticket could be paid for with two $10 notes and one $5 note or with one $20 note and five $1 coins. Run a competition between student groups, with the winner being the group that thinks of most options to pay.

Years 1-2Year 3


10 AFL crowds Number and place value

Have students research the attendance figures for the most recent round of AFL football. Ask them to determine the place value for digits in each crowd figure. For example, how many 10 thousands? How many thousands? How many hundreds? How many tens? How many ones? Have students express these attendance figures in words.


11 Stadium statistics


Divide your class into statistics teams and assign an AFL ground to each team to research. Their brief is to conduct a statistical analysis of each stadium that outlines the length of each ground, the attendance capacity of the stadium, the width of each ground and how many games were played there last season. Groups should combine their data for a whole of class graphic presentation of each category of statistics. Students should be provided with an opportunity to evaluate and discuss class results.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

12 Our footy budget


Have your class organise an AFL-themed day at school to raise funds for the local football team. As part of the task, ask them to devise a cash budget of expected receipts and payments. What surplus do they expect? How will they cover the shortfall if their expected payments are greater than their expected receipts?

Years 5-6Years 7-8

13 Which way should I go?

Location and transformation

Divide your class into teams and assign an AFL ground to each team. Using Google maps, street directory etc, have students establish the quickest way to get to and from their assigned ground to the nearest train station. They should present and justify their findings to the class.

Years 3-4Years 5-6

14 What’s in the footy fixture?


Provide students with an AFL fixture. Have them use the fixture to classify and organise information about which day games are played and what time they are scheduled to be played on any certain day. For example, how many games are played on Fridays and what time do they start? How many games are played on public holidays? What is their scheduled starting time? Are any games not played on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday? What are the reasons for this?

Years 3-4Years 5-6

15 How did we go?


Have the class participate in a competition where each student is provided with a time limit to (repeatedly) handball a football at a target, for example, into an open rubbish bin, bullseye (AFL handball target) etc. Each student should keep a scorecard of their successes and misses. Ask the students to explore ways of combining data for a whole of class presentation.


16 How do I get there?


Have students design a map from their home to the nearest ground where Australian football is played. On their map they should provide a legend that uses special colours and symbols to identify major roads, landmarks, public transport and parklands. It should also show the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.


17 Playing time Patterns and algebra, Fractions and decimals

Use data on the playing time of AFL players to devise mathematical word challenges for students. For example, “If a player plays one quarter of a four-quarter game what percentage or fraction of the game has he played?” or “If a player has played one half of the second quarter and all of the final quarter how much of the game has he played?”



18 How do they rank?


Use the most recent AFL ladder to have students calculate percentages, movements and multiplication and division tasks. How is the points ‘for’ and ‘against’ data used to calculate a team’s percentage? How can a team with a higher percentage rank lower than a team with a lower percentage? How does a team’s home record compare with its away record? How many games has a team won if it has a set amount of points?

Years 5-6Years 7-8

19 Paid up and proud


Divide your class into groups and assign an AFL team to each. Have each group research the level of membership for their assigned team. Ask them to compare their current membership numbers with those of five, 10 and 15 years ago? They should decide on the best way of presenting their findings to the class and provide reasons for the changes.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

20 Footy fractions

Fractions and decimals

Use different aspects of football to teach students about fractions. What fraction of the total crowd were away fans in a specific fixture? What fraction of shots at goal by a player or team were goals? What fraction of games were won by a team during a season? What fraction of games were won by a team when their star player was playing? What fraction of games by a team were won at home? Away from home?

Years 5-6Years 7-8

21 AFL greater than, less than

Data representation and interpretation, Patterns and algebra

Use AFL scores and player statistics to teach students about the concept of greater than or less than. For example, how many times has a team kicked less than 100 points this season? The past three seasons? Has this affected where they finished on the ladder? Justify your answer.

Years F-2Years 3-4Years 5-6

22 Taking a punt Patterns and algebra

Use aspects of AFL football to teach students about estimation. What percentage of the MCG do you estimate will be full (crowd capacity) for the AFL Grand Final? What percentage would be full for a home and away game? Would the teams who are playing make a difference to your estimations?

Years 3-4Years 5-6

23 Presenting our case


Divide your class into groups and assign an AFL team to each. Have each group research premiership ladders over the past two decades to determine the ranking of their assigned team in each year. Have groups graph their results and present their findings to the class. As part of their presentation student groups should present and justify the reasons why their team performed the way it did.

Years 5-6Years 7-8

24 Tell me how far

Using units of measurement

Have students watch a video and listen to the commentary of an AFL game. Ask them to take particular note of the units of measurement commentators use when describing how far the ball has been kicked, how close the ball came to crossing the line, how high a player jumped to take a mark or how far a team travelled to get to the game. What other units of measurement could be used to describe distance? Would these be better to use to gain an appreciation of distance? Why? Why not?

Years 3-4Years 5-6

25 AFL time on Using units of measurement

Investigate with students the units of time used in AFL football to determine the duration of a game. Each quarter goes for 20 minutes plus time on as decided by the umpire. Time on can be measured in minutes and seconds while the length of the game can be measured in minutes and hours.

Years 3-4


26 What’s the time?


Use AFL football to solve simple time problems. For example, if an AFL game started at 2.07pm and the first quarter went for a total of 29 minutes, what time did the first quarter end? If a player played 47 minutes in the first three quarters, how many minutes did he play in the last quarter if he played 60 minutes for the game?’

Years 3-4

27 Taking a ‘speccy’


Have students research an image of a famous AFL/VFL mark. Using A3 grid player ask them to draw an enlarged version of the image and compare the resulting image with the original.

Years 5-6

28 Clearing all stock


Have students investigate a range of AFL club merchandise. Ask them to calculate percentage discounts of 10%, 25% and 50% on selected items and justify when clubs would apply discounts to their merchandise.

Years 5-6

29 Our AFL travel package


Divide the class into groups and have each group take on the role of a travel agency that specialises in organising travel packages to interstate AFL games. Have them design an itinerary for travel and timetable of events for a tour group leaving on Friday to watch a game interstate on the Saturday and returning home on Sunday. The trip should involve one or more modes of public transport.

Years 5-6

30 Who is the longest kick?


Have students organise an Australian Football kicking contest on the school oval. The competition aims to judge the longest kick in the class. Students are to decide what equipment they will need, how they will accurately measure each kick, what unit of measurement they will use to measure and how they will record and present their results.


lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian …€¦ · lesson ideas on how to celebrate australian...

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