The Lighthouse Diary Entry #23: Statistics as Science and Story

A grade 10 student asked me about the NBA and statistics. Thanks to the student's Personal Project Supervisor and PP Coordinator for this chance to connect with a fan of the NBA from one of our students.

Yes, I am an NBA fan. I miss the Spurs not playing in this year’s playoffs and the Splash Brothers’ entertaining game. As a fan I look at statistics as science and story. 

As a science, a player’s statistic is one way to determine his or her progress and potential, areas for growth, aspects that need improvement on like shooting ranges in areas that are too difficult to make one in the first place. Apart from what you said, the coaching staff can use a team’s statistic to identify more plays that will work for them and mix-match combination of players. Steve Kerr is very good at this. This way, a coach is also able to predict winning or losing a game.

These are things we know as fans from watching and following the NBA games. We can look at sports science particularly on basketball, the NBA and how coaches approach the game so that they win games. Credible game analysts can also be referred too.

The science of the stats is interesting but the story of the stat and how athletes, coaches and fans respond to it is fascinating. The Warriors are a third quarter team as the stats show. They pull in points and plays at the third quarter. Why is that? Is this good for a championship team? This is where we see athletes and coaches going beyond what they can do, defying physical and mental limits and succeeding or failing in the end. As fans, we are in this journey with them. 

Klay Thompson’s Game 6 performances in the past 3 championships are filled with mind blowing stats! How can he score 20 or more points in one quarter and pull the team from the pit of loss? That is heroic and the stats prove it. It makes for a good storytelling at dinner time when we miss watching the Warriors in this season’s playoff. Now, Klay Thompson is recovering from an injury. Will he be the same player we know him to be? We will have to watch and his stats will show the science and the story.

This is how I view stats. Predicting who will win or lose is the end to itself. But sports engages us because there is a far more interesting science in the game and an amazing story of individual athletes and the collective effort of a team.

So, as for your question on what platform to use, Google has accessible tools. Spread sheet, yes. Present the highlights and cumulative data in a Google Site. You can also visualize the data using visualisation tools. For this, research on which tool is the most accessible and easy to learn. From one NBA fan to another, I hope you will be able to see the beauty of the science in basketball by looking at stats and be inspired by the marvelous feats of such athletes. Derive inspiration from their stories in victory and in loss. What awaits you is an insight, a universal truth or a significant discovery about the human spirit and humanity’s capability to survive and thrive in adversity.

Let me know if you need specific resources. Good luck on your PP! 

Library Bluff Game

Here's a game I used with our tenth graders, Library Bluff: Is it a Fact or a Bluff?

The 10s were very competitive. I had fun listening to their justification and reasoning, arguments and counter arguments. The game required them to think through on their answers. There were a few students who were winging it. Those who frequent the library were able to answer the questions and provide reasons and arguments that were better phrased.

The Three Categories of the Library Bluff Game

What made the game educational was the "bluffing" part. I had to provide substantial information for each fact and correct the bluff. In a way, students reviewed basic library knowledge and new information was added to their knowledge on citations, information sources and research.

23 Mobile Things # 11 and # 12: Augmented Reality & Games

If you missed my post on Thing # 11, here is the link to the Book Love activity I did using ThingLink. It's my second favorite as Flashissue happens to be the first. Overall, what I am having fun with in 23 Mobile Things is the process of creating stuff using things. Ooops. That sounds vague.

I mean, I enjoy learning about the apps introduced every week and I enjoy it even more that I'm capable of creating content using the apps for personal and professional purposes. I have been using Flashissue as the library's e-newsletter for over a month now and teachers reply back to me on resources I recommend and apps I feature in the newsletter.

Last week, I had a ball exploring ThingLink. I discovered it as a cool tool to feature books I've read and recommend these to library readers. I like these two the best, so far, since I found the apps so easy to use. I learned making the e-newsletter in an hour with all the basic bells and whistles. The same with ThingLink. But, content really matters big time. While these apps allowed me to blend technology, content matters.

Now that Thing 12 has been up since last week, I'm trying to figure out how to use games in the library. One thing I know for sure, this is one Thing in the 23 Mobile Things that I need to put aside for now and go back to during the summer. The apps recommended for Thing 12: Games look easy to learn. No coding needed. But, a certain degree of logic and a knowledge of basic design, plus a clever story is needed to put one end with the other.

My list of to dos for 23 Mobile Things is getting longer. Just saying. Time management is the key here. I have learned in the past that technology use and integration must be well thought out. Never jump into the tech bandwagon immediately. Study. Strategize. Experiment. Assess. Evaluate. And yes, I'll bog to document my learning experiences in 23 Mobile Things.