They shoot. They score. And the crowd goes wild! Many of us know the rush of watching our favorite team or the fun in playing ball with our friends in the backyard. But what makes a sport a sport exactly? This is the very question our “Just Do it!” group will be probing and exploring during Dive in and Discover Week at Keys. Students will collaborate in groups and use their skills in categorical reasoning and communication to determine the criteria for what makes a sport. Based on which photos fall into either the sport or non-sport category for student, students use their inductive reasoning skills to create criteria around why they decided each activity was or was not a sport.
The students’ definition of a sport is a lens they will use during the week as they experience new and familiar “sports”. The week’s activities will help students refine their definition of a sport and challenge their initial assumptions of what is and is not a categorized as a sport. Students are encouraging to think flexibly, see the parts within a larger system, analyze based on criteria or components, actively listen, and communicate agreement and disagreement respectfully. They are experiencing a variety of sports, such as racquet sports, lawn games, track and field, as well as hiking, and each day they will question whether or not said activity should be considered a sport and why.
Towards the end of Dive in and Discover week students will synthesize their learnings from the week to design a new sport that fits within the group’s finalized definition of a sport. This exercise encourages students to exercise their creativity, share their ideas and take risks, as well as building upon on another’s ideas. Teachers hope students will not only learn to be productive teammates, but also how to question assumptions and redefine a concept.
