Externalization and Articulation

 Externalization and Articulation

Learn Statistics and Applied Math by Playing Baseball!

Rafe teaches his students statistics and how to calculate baseball statistics by actually having students understand and play the game at a technical level.  And the way that he ensures students are actually learning is by having students actually score a game using a score sheet for a real baseball game.  That way students externalize their learning by producing their own score sheet, and students will be able to articulate their learning by providing an analysis of the game too!  That provides students the best learning environment, because "when learners externalize and articulate their developing knowledge, they learn more effectively" (Sawyer, p. 9).

“After spending several weeks learning to keep score, the kids stay after school one evening to watch a World Series game live on TV.  It’s the ultimate lesson in recording keeping.  I print score sheets for all the kids from the Internet, and they sit at their desks and score the game.  As questions arise, I can easily maneuver around the room to help or write on the chalkboard.  Everyone has a great time because in addition to keeping score, we eat hot dogs and Cracker Jacks and drink soda. After this experience, the kids are ready to try keeping score at a real ball game.” (p.130).

Here's a scoresheet that his students produce themselves:

Source:

Esquith, R. (2007). Put Me In, Coach. In Teach like your hair's on fire: The methods and madness inside room 56 (p. 126-131). New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Sawyer, R K. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. , 2014. Internet resource.