The BasketStats program aims to introduce fundamental concepts in mathematics, science, and computer programming via a curriculum centered around basketball statistics. Students will be enticed to join through the promise of time in an indoor basketball court to play games, with a second session held in the same week focused on the subsequent analysis of the students’ personal statistics and the statistics of their favorite NBA or WNBA players.
With its unique approach to teaching quantitative skills, BasketStats was specifically created to change the attitudes of students who think they “aren’t good at math” or “don’t like science” alongside the educational content presented each week. We hope to educate students aged 12 or above, old enough to both understand some of the most fundamental concepts in the class and have a sincere passion for basketball.
This course requires access to an hour or more of dedicated time on a full-sized basketball court with two hoops for the first session, and a computer for each student for the second session. If computers have IT restrictions, a suite of programming and analysis tools are required including Anaconda, Jupyter, Microsoft Excel, VScode, and Python.
Lessons will focus on making connections between concepts the students will likely already be familiar with (i.e. points per game, field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, player efficiency rating, etc.) to concepts in mathematics (averages, fractions, weighted averages, normalization). The goal is for students to finish the program with a newfound appreciation for math, a proficiency in computer programming, and an understanding that a career in data analysis, especially in sports, is a viable and potentially lucrative career path.
After-school robotics, computer programming, and science programs are incredibly enriching experiences for the students that participate, teaching key concepts that can improve critical thinking, develop financial literacy, and cultivate hireable skills. However, many existing STEM after-school programs self-select for students already interested in the sciences. Students who consider themselves bad at math or science may miss out on these opportunities due to disinterest or a lack of confidence in their abilities. BasketStats aims to expand the intended audience of STEM programs through an immersive foray into the use of mathematical tools and computer programming to analyze basketball statistics. Leveraging an existing interest in basketball, we hope to instill confidence in the quantitative abilities of students and generate new skills in mathematics and computer programming.
If you'd like to get a sneak peek at the BasketStats curriculum, everything is in the Jupyter Notebook (basketball_stats.ipynb). This is something of a "living curriculum" with the code for these lessons embedded directly into the file. However, an abridged summary of the program and a plain-text curriculum can now be found in a recently uploaded pdf (BasketStats_UMD.pdf).