Introduce Baseball To Physical Education Classes
Informative material about the sport, such as the books Baseball: stories of a passion and Tradition, family and sports practice: Japanese culture and Baseball in Brazil.
Goals
• Develop knowledge about baseball, a sport that has not been well developed in the school context.
• Expand the sport and motor repertoire.
• Know some elements that make up this modality, popular in other countries.
Estimated time
• 18 lessons (about one bimonthly, with two 50-minute lessons per week)
• Necessary material
• Broom handles,
• pet bottles with a little water,
• small rubber balls and nº10 or nº12,
• chalk,
• hula hoops,
• cones,
• vests,
• computers with internet access,
• projector,
• cardboards,
Development
1st stage
To introduce baseball to students, it is necessary to make a diagnosis of what they know about it. Ask, “Whoever heard of baseball? Where did you see anything about it? What is baseball? Have you ever watched a game? Then, show the video Baseball at the Olympics, from How Stuffs Works? to briefly situate them on the sport. Ask if the information that appeared in the video is similar to the information on the board and whether different or new data has emerged. Record them on posters or suggest that the notes be made individually and kept so that they can be resumed in later stages. If any information previously collected is wrong, problematize the issue, without pointing out the error. Ask if there is anything they would remove from baseball’s list of features and why. Leave only the final list, with the conclusions that must remain. Mattinglybaseball provides more information about the baseball sport. Do you want to know more about baseball then visit here , it provides more useful information about the baseball sports.
2nd stage
Based on the data indicated, propose a survey in the computer room. Ask the class to form groups of no more than six people to investigate baseball topics that you have defined. They should present what they investigated in the class. The themes can be the main rules, history, materials, clothing used (and their functions), countries where it is most practiced, curiosities, baseball in Brazil and the role of the players. In the absence of the internet, go to the library or take previously selected materials on the subject and distribute it for the group to research. After socializing the research, hold a conversation with students to systematize the information. Ask which ones got the most attention. Make yourself available to clarify any doubts.
3rd stage
It’s time to start bodily experiences. Baseball is similar to some popular games in Brazil, like the bat. Therefore, to create an identification of the students with the sport, it is worth working on it beforehand, highlighting the characteristics they have in common.
Taco
Organize a taco game, highlighting the similarities with baseball and the differences. The game rules can be found on the site. Some adaptations can be made to work at the school, depending on the space, the material or the number of students you have.
Approaches: the materials are similar (bat and ball), the number of teams in the same (one for attack and one for defense), there are bases in the game (in this case there are two bases. In baseball there are four), the hit is one of the main elements to score, but it can also eliminate the attack.
Adaptations: As the game is usually composed of 4 people, you can place several groups scattered on the court or even outside, if there is no space. To teach the number of baseball innings, the teacher can end the game when the pair scores 9 points (instead of 10, which is common on the bat).
In this game, students can learn several rules of baseball such as the number of innings, show some functions of the players, the importance of reaching the bases, how to score in baseball and different types of play strategies.
4th stage
Perform the baseball game with all the official rules, similar materials, four bases, exact numbers of players (9 players on each team) and present possibilities for strategic moves like the home run. The rules of this modality can be consulted on the following :
– How to play bat
– How to play baseball: 23 steps with images
5th stage
Propose some adaptations in the game to suit the school context, such as: reducing the number of innings to allow everyone time to play in a class, a larger number of players so that everyone can experience at the same time, modification of the space, etc. Ask students what could be modified and test the suggestions with them in class to see if these changes are beneficial for game development and class learning.
6th stage
Suggest to the students a baseball festival, where everyone would participate in the creation and execution of the whole process. Based on the official rules of baseball and similar activities that students have known before, they will think together with the teacher about rules adapted for the festival that will take place with his class. Main points to be considered for the elaboration of the festival:
– Adapted rules or creation of new rules.
– Number of players (can increase or decrease as needed).
– Number of innings (entries) if it is necessary to change so that everyone can participate.
– Rotation of players so that everyone goes through all the functions (check if it is necessary for attack and defense or just in one).
– Number of referees that the students think is necessary.
– Define who will score the scores and the scoresheets of the games?
– Define if there will be more than two teams and how will the table be made if there are more than two teams?
– Ask students to name their team by creating an identity for each group.
– Define the award and see how it can be made or purchased.
– Define all the material that will be needed on the day (scoresheets, posters with game tables, chalk to make the base or cone to signal the same (or other material prepared by the class to serve as base), scoreboard (ex: scoreboard made cardboard), uniforms (can be school vest or some uniform made by students.
After defining all these points with the students and making the material mentioned above, remind them that the festival is an event that aims to share knowledge; fraternize with colleagues; experience the modality learned by everyone and not just by some; check what the student learned about baseball (because the students participated in the entire process of building and applying the activity); respect differences by playing with everyone and with others; and that despite having competition, everyone will be awarded in the end.
On the day of the festival, students will already have to know all its functions, where to place and what to do with each material and organize the entire structure of the festival. Guide them during the event, mediating all actions that occur and clarifying doubts. Do not forget to put students also to register the event, either by photo or film, so this material can be used to socialize learning in the school community (e.g making posters or murals with pictures at school to publicize how this work was for everyone; if the school has a blog, post photos and videos of the event on it).
Evaluation
Propose that students evaluate themselves individually, reflecting on the whole process of learning baseball, the games experience, the creation and execution of the festival by the class. Separate the self-assessment into 4 parts: 1) Approximation of the theme and process of creating the games; 2) Presentation of games and class participation in the process; 3) Experiences from games similar to baseball and official rules; 4) Creation and Application of the Festival. In each topic, students should consider what they learned, what was more or less interesting, what they learned, what moments they liked most, what was it like to participate in this process and what would it change to improve this way of working with baseball?
Flexibilization
For students with physical disabilities (in the lower limbs) If you have students in wheelchairs, but with mastery of movements in the upper limbs, explore what they can do: throwing and even hitting the bat are possible movements. To prevent this student from being at a disadvantage about his colleagues who are running, a suggestion is to propose that in the pitches and strikes everyone should be seated in chairs. The important thing is to include the student in all stages of the sequence, assigning responsibilities to him. The educator’s intervention, in this case, serves to show the class that not everyone can do the same things in the same way – and that this is not a reason to “exclude” someone from the group.
