It’s not often that youngsters want to cheer and dance for math class. But about 60 St. Andrew’s Priory School students got to whoop it up — or, rather, hoop it up — for a statistics and probability assignment last week.
Their teacher, Cate Guimaraes, took her middle and high school students to Stan Sheriff Center for Thursday night’s University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors game against Cal State Long Beach to give them a real-world experience in using math.
"I wanted them to see that you can go to something fun and math applies to it," said Guimaraes, who is in her second year teaching at the private girls school.
Students had to identify a specific player and track stats such as points scored, minutes played, fouls committed, rebounds and free throws. Back in class, they would then compare those statistics against the player’s season averages, which would then be used to determine probable outcomes for the UH season as a whole. (The results of their studies were not yet tallied.)
Guimaraes had to prepare the students by explaining several elements of the game, such as three-point baskets or why guards tend to have fewer rebounds. And while the students went online after the game to get the official statistics — "It would be so hard to coordinate this screaming over everybody" during the game, Guimaraes said — there were still many calculations to make, especially in trying to single out individual game stats from season stats.
The hard-fought game, which the Warriors eventually lost 92-83 after staying within a half-dozen points until the final minute, had the girls up on their feet. They also showed enthusiasm for the pep squad routines and the opportunities to appear on the jumbo screen above the scoreboard.
Later, some of the students had made some determinations about their players. Kahala Furukawa, 13, a student in Guimaraes’ algebra class, was tracking point guard Keith Shamburger and figured that his shooting for the game was off — he was 2 for 16.
"He missed more than he usually does," said Kahala, who plans to get Warrior season tickets next year. She plays basketball herself and wanted to follow Shamburger because "I always had a problem with dribbling and wanted to see how he did it."
Guimaraes hit upon the idea of using basketball for math class from a personal connection. She came to Hawaii for "an adventure" after years of teaching on the East Coast, where one of her students was former UH basketball player Shaquille Stokes. Her first job in Hawaii was tutoring Stokes and other UH athletes.
When she got the job at St. Andrew’s, it was a natural fit to use basketball as a source for working with statistics. "This year I was able to build a whole unit around it, which was awesome, and the girls knew it was going to happen, so they were getting excited and invested."
