Title and Introduction:	Swing for the Fences In this unit you will learn how to use percentages to create pie charts. You will also learn a little bit about baseball in the process.
Subject:	Math
Topic:	Percentages and Pie charts
Objectives:	Students will be able to compare, order, and determine equivalence of fractions, decimals, percents, whole numbers, and integers.
Procedures:	Day 1: Introducing the Lesson First the students must learn how to transform ratios into percentages. Using cross multiplication, explain to students how 75/100 = 75% and other numbers of varying difficulty. 25/625 = ?/100 à2500 = 625x à 2500/625 = x à x = 4% In this equation we start with the ratio 25 over 625. By using cross multiplication we see that we have the equation 2500 is equal to 625 multiplied times the variable x. After dividing 625 from 2500 we have x equaling 4, which is actually a percentage since it is over 100. Any numbers can be substituted in for the 25 and the 625 and this process will still work. Place more examples on the board, having students go up front to work them out in front of the class. When it seems that the students understand the concept of cross multiplication to transform ratios to percentages, you must now attempt to address how baseball statistics can be used in this same way. Ask the class who their favorite baseball player is. Try to get out of them why they like that particular player. After a couple students have answered, tell them that baseball can also use percentages and ratio. At this point the class should divided into groups of 2 or 3 students per group. Make sure that there is an even number of groups. Multiples of 8 are recommended, but are not needed. After the class is divided up, explain to the students that this group is their group for the next couple of days for their fantasy baseball team. Day 2: Giving the teams and doing calculations When the students enter the classroom have them get into their groups, which were assigned the previous class period. At this point the baseball cards will be passed out, representing the group’s fantasy baseball team. The distribution of the cards should be completely random. Shuffle the cards, which should be comprised of all players who had at least 500 plate appearances the previous year, and hand them out one at a time to the successive groups. Each group needs to end up with 9 baseball cards each. These 9 players will make up the batting lineup for each team. The students will be able to decide in what order to bat each player according to their own strategy/liking. Before creating the spinners, we will have to create a chart, which will guide the groups in creating their spinners for each player. Create a table on the board with the following headings: NAME, AB, BB, PLATE APP, HITS, 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, OUT, SO, Name: The name of the baseball player AB: At-bats, this is clearly marked on the back of the card. BB: Base on Balls (Walks) Plate App: Total Plate Appearances, this is the At Bat’s plus the Base on Balls (AB+BB=Plate App) Hits: Total number of hits, stated on the card 1b: Singles, taken by adding doubles, triples, and homeruns and subtracting that from the hits. (Hits- (2b+3b+HR)=1b 2b: Doubles 3b: Triples HR: Homeruns OUT: Total outs which weren’t strikeouts, At Bat’s minus hits minus strikeouts. (AB-Hits-SO=OUT) SO: Strike Outs With this table filled in the class can easily begin to calculate percentages and, therefore, degrees of their circles. Example: Jim Thome – 579 AB – 111 BB’s – 690 Plate App – 154 Hits – 74 1b – 30 2b – 3 3b – 47 HR’s – 243 OUTS – 182 So Use this Jim Thome example to explain how to create the degrees of the pie chart. The figures being expressed on the spinner are 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, BB, OUT, SO. First we must convert all these stats to percentages. To do so take the stat we know, divided by the plate appearances set equal to the variable x over 100. So, in our example of Jim Thome. To calculate the percentage of singles to total plate appearance just use cross multiplication as taught earlier: 74/690 = x/100 à690x = 7400 à x = 7400/690 à x = 10.7% So, singles will take up 10.7% of the spinner. Now, we must convert this percentage to degrees using the same steps. 10.7/100 = x/360° à 100x = 3852 à x = 38.5° Have the students create a new table for each player so that they can record their calculations of percentage and degrees in writing so the do not lose them. Again, the same calculation should be done for 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, BB, OUT, SO. In the end, all of the degrees should add up to 360 and the percentages should add up to 100. If they do not there was an error in calculation and they should be double-checked. Try to complete all calculations on this day. Day 3: Creating the spinners It is now time to create the spinners for each player. The spinners will be made of manila folders cut into circles, which have a 9” diameter. Compasses would work best to get a nicely shaped circle. First, have the students cut out 9 circles, one for each player. Have them poke a hole in the very center when making their circle with the compass. This hole will be used to insert the pencil for the spinning itself. To create the spinner 1. Cut the circle using scissors and the compass. 2. Draw a radian from the center of the circle to the outside edge; it does not matter where as long as it is a straight line. 3. Using a protractor and the chart with the degrees that the students created yesterday, start creating the “pie chart” that will be used as a spinner. 4. As the students make the different lines for the sections, make sure they are labeling as they go (1b, 2b, 3b, HR, BB, Outs, SO). 5. The students can put the different categories in any order that they choose around the circle. 6. Be sure to put the name of the baseball player on the back of the spinner when the construction is complete. Sample: This is a visual of what the spinner should look like, without the labels though. Each of the sections should have a label saying which category it stands for. In the middle of the circle, where the hole is, the students will use a bent paper clip, so that there is a sharp edge pointing out, and spin it around the tip of a pencil, which is stuck in the hole. This should give adequate spinning action, while being small enough to be able to hit even the smallest of sections of the pie graph. Day 4: Playing the games If all groups are finished with their calculations then they are ready to play the games. Have every team come up with their own team name, and write each one on the board. Under each name you will make marks for wins and losses to keep track of the current standings. All games will be played with the following rules. 1. A coin flip will decide the home team (they bat second). 2. There will be 3 outs to an inning. 3. There must be some sort of “field” for each game. Markers must be present for each base, and also markers representing runners on base. These markers can be erasers, pencils, pens, etc. Be creative. 4. Games will be played for 5 innings, or until the time is up (10 minutes per game). 5. If there is a tie at the end of 5 innings or when time expires there will be a “spin off”. Each team gets to select their batter and the two teams go head to head. The player with the better hit wins. Keep spinning until someone wins. The order from worst to best is as follows: SO<OUT<BB<1B<2B<3B<HR 6. When runners are on base, they advance the same number of bases as does the hitter. Example: If there are runners on first and second and the player up to bat hits a double. The runner from second base moves 2 bases and scores. The runner from first moves 2 bases to third base. The runner who was hitting moves 2 bases to second base. 7. The team with the high score wins. 8. The home team must be the last team to bat. If time is getting close to being called and the home team has just batted, do not continue on to the next inning. As teams play against each other for the first game, decide which side of the room to place the winners and which side to place the losing team. After the first round have teams that won, play other teams that won and teams that lost play other teams that lost. Basically, just make so that teams do not play the same team again. The 2 teams with the best records after playing 7 games will go on to the World Series. Day 5: The World Series After 7 games, hopefully 2 teams emerge as the winning teams, if not, however, a couple quick 3-inning games could prove to show the better if a few teams are equal in wins. The final two teams are ready to show off their skills in the 9 inning World Series. This is a relaxing day after learning something new and those not in the game could be rewarded by having snacks and pop, maybe even some things normally associated with baseball fields (popcorn, cotton candy, soda, etc). For the playing of this World Series, both teams should set up two desks up front, apart from each other, where they will each do their spinning. As the teacher, you will take care of the scoring and the people on base by drawing a baseball diamond on the board, and moving the base runners and marking the scores as they occur. In the end, one team will emerge victorious and will have their names put onto a trophy, which stays in the room for the annual event.
Evaluation:	Evaluation of the students will come down to 2 sections, participation and correctness. 1. Participation: Did the student stay actively involved in the activity? Did the student disrupt the class or do things that weren’t conducive to learning? Did the student do his/her part in the group? (10 points) 2. Correctness: Did the student, and his/her group, create a pie chart with accurate information? Did they use cross multiplication to come up with their answers? (10 points)
Materials:	1. Baseball Cards (9 per group, all different athletes) 2. Scissors 3. paper clips (1 per group) 4. Manila Folders 5. Compass 6. Protractor

Keep exploring more with cross multiplication in sports by looking at stats on the Internet.