In the springtime, some middle school students enjoy outdoor sports much more than they enjoy their math classes. Why not use two of these popular sports to our advantage in the classroom? The following problems with baseball and track themes challenge students to exercise some of the skills they learn in the middle school curriculum.

What Is Round, Hard and Sold for $3 Million?
This activity challenges students to determine which is worth more today: Babe Ruth’s 1927 home-run record-breaking ball or Mark McGwire’s 70th home-run ball that sold in 1999 for $3 million. Compound interest is the main topic.

Who’s On First Today?
In this activity, students use hits and at-bat statistics to determine which of two baseball players has a better batting average.

Fun with Baseball Stats
In this lesson plan, students use baseball cards to convert statistics to decimals, fractions and percentages. Then, they use their statistics in playing a game. Activity sheets can be downloaded.

Can You Run As Fast As a Car?
This activity asks the student to determine if Florence Griffith-Joyner moved faster than a car traveling 15 miles per hour when she ran 10 meters at a record-breaking 0.91 seconds during the Seoul Olympics. Along with the answer, students will find a description of how to make unit conversions and other problems related to conversions of units of measure for volume, distance, currency, and temperature.

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