This post is the seventh installment of our #SportsInSTEM Series, which explores, demonstrates, and illuminates how sport serves as a vehicle to train and enlighten students of all ages in pursuing interests and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. If you or someone you know is using sports to help with STEM education, then please let us know so we can include their work in our series.
The middle school years are an important time in a child’s life. Besides reading Robert Frost poems and books like The Cay, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are incredibly important subjects to work into school curriculums.
The problem is, these topics aren’t always interesting to the youth of America, which seems to be a growing trend today. In fact, only 16 percent of U.S. high school students are proficient in math and actively pursuing STEM careers.
With technology becoming more advanced and popular around the world, careers are more likely than ever to require advanced education in technical fields. And without pushing our youth to build a general interest for STEM topics, we may be in trouble.
But this is where we believe sports can help. Many kids find excitement and joy in sports and at the very least, sports provide teachers a way to help make learning fun and interactive. Especially when it comes to STEM subjects.
So, imagine telling a middle-schooler that they will have a chance to step onto a Major League Baseball field. Many will instantly start imagining the smell of the fresh-cut grass, the heat of the sun on their skin, and the feel of the stitched baseball lying dormant in their hand.
Now, thanks to the Arizona Science of Baseball Program, children in Arizona are getting a Major League learning experience.
Arizona Science of Baseball Program
To fully explain what Arizona Science of Baseball is, the first mention must go to Ricardo Valerdi, Associate Professor in Systems and Industrial Engineering at University of Arizona.
Ricardo and his team of volunteer students and alumni help to make this program possible, as topics are delivered by scientists and engineers alike.
Furthermore, the partnership with parents and teachers helps to strengthen the program. Couple that with the fact that the Arizona Science of Baseball program is fully funded by the Arizona Diamondbacks and their corporate sponsors, Chase and Insight, and the nation has a prime example of how sports can influence and foster a learning environment.
Perhaps more importantly, Ricardo explained that “the Diamondbacks provide resources to make the curriculum more relevant to Arizona students. For example, they lend their mascot (Baxter the cat) to participate in our events. They provide their Spring Training facility (Salt River Fields) to run our camps for kids. They make Chase Field available for our teacher training programs.”
With such a great group of supporters driving the program, it’s equally important to have a great curriculum. And that is exactly what the Arizona Science of Baseball Program has.
A Curriculum for the Child in Everyone
The key behind the curriculum is that it’s actually based on stuff that children will be tested on. Valerdi explained how a mixture of sources are combined to create the experience, the first of which is gathered from the Common Core Standard in Mathematics:
“In order to help students improve their math skills we are laser focused on teaching them topics that they will be tested on in standardized tests. Topics such as ratios, equations, geometry, and statistics drive the content of our curriculum.”
As for the second part of the mixture…well, it’s simple really. Valerdi describes the second source as “baseball topics that are fun and engaging”: “Counting balls and strikes is not fun. But launching baseballs with a water balloon launcher over the outfield wall is super fun…and reinforces concepts from aerodynamics and the role of angles on the trajectory of a baseball.”
For instance, during one of the program’s lessons, students learn about the trajectory of a baseball’s flight. Not only are angles, velocity, and spin factors in the lesson, but weather and altitude are taken into account as well.
Children will even learn about nutrition and physiology, which help to enhance their understanding of core operations like measurement, operations, and algebraic thinking.
Additional lessons include topics such as field geometry, reaction time, elasticity, and base running.
Our latest class of @Dbacks Science of Baseball teachers! Go forth and make #STEM fun! @darenheaton @azengineering pic.twitter.com/ZC5oUMypiY
— Ricardo Valerdi (@sciencebaseball) May 18, 2014
#SportsInSTEM: It’s Anyone’s Game
Students are the main focus of the Arizona Science of Baseball Program; the future of America may lie in the hands of our youth.
As with any learning program, results are just as important as a walkoff homerun is in baseball. So to measure results, children in the program are given a pretest as well as a post-test.
The difference between pretests and post-tests has been impressive to say the least. For example, students were asked how to calculate a player’s batting average. Just 28% of children answered correctly before the program. Afterwards, that number jumped to 86%. According to Valerdi, 40% of the children answer questions correctly before taking part in the program, while that number soars to 90% afterwards. And not only does Arizona Science of Baseball push for results, but it’s also a great example of women in engineering, which is something that should not be overlooked.
Mechanical engineering student Maurissa Wortham has had the opportunity to work within the Arizona Science of Baseball Program. She is a prime example of how STEM is not just for men: “I think that some of the girls who show up are unsure about whether or not this camp is for them. It is. Science and math are not gender-specific. I hope that I can be an example to these girls by showing them that they should always do what interests them. They should never pay attention to what other people’s opinions of their interests may be.”
Women in STEM is an idea that certainly adds to the value of the program. But it’s easy to sit back and ponder what may be next for the program.
What’s Next?
The Arizona Science of Baseball Program is a great start to a nationwide problem: Students have lost interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.
By merging the sports world with STEM topics, students are physically able to measure a baseball field through geometry rather than just staring at dimensions on a piece of paper. This program is important because it gives kids the opportunity feel the grass under their feet, walk through the gritty dirt, and experience the texture of a baseball in their hands. All of this helps children to indulge in a world of STEM. Not only has the Arizona Science of Baseball Program already expanded from eight lessons to 13, but the program’s trajectory shows it’s still on the rise.
Valerdi, his team of students and alumni, the teachers involved, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have set an example for the rest of the country by incorporating four simple objectives:
- Increase Student Awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Fields as a Future Education and Career Option
- Motivate Students to Excel Despite Obstacles
- Provide a Measurable Opportunity for Individual Transformation
- Establish a Framework for Sustainable Change
It’s as if they’re all saying “there is a solution to the decreasing interest in STEM, and that just so happens to be sports”.