Bounce Ball Bounce Year Levels Prep to Year 2

Key Learning Area Science Bounce ball bounce Year levels Prep to Year 2

Activity overview This activity begins with a discussion of different types of balls used in a range of sports. Students observe the balls and sort them according to various criteria. A class chart is developed to organise and record the data about the different balls observed. Students describe how the oval-shaped ball behaves in different situations in Australian football. Simple experiments are carried out where students test the effect that shape has on the way a ball behaves in different situations. Students make statements that support their observations.

Time required 2 sessions of 45 minutes each

Materials • Worksheet: Round and oval-shaped balls • Balls from the following sports: cricket, basketball, netball, Australian football, rugby league, soccer, squash, tennis, and field hockey • Flat mat such as a rounders plate • Cones or other suitable markers to mark out an area for students to complete their tests • Paper for a large chart, or a whiteboard and markers • Card for names of sports that relate to the balls collected • Images and Bounce Ball Bounce video in Resources section on the AFL CD-ROM

Preparation • Collect a range of balls from the school’s physical education storeroom or arrange to borrow balls from the local secondary college. • Prepare a chart for use in the sessions. • Photocopy Worksheet: Round and oval-shaped balls, one per student. • Prepare cards with names of sports that relate to the balls collected. • Take a photograph of each ball in the collection and print one copy of each ready for use in the chart. (Optional) Bounce ball bounce • Collect cones to mark out the area used for testing.

Session 1 1. Ask students how balls used in a variety of sports are different. Write a list of their ideas on a whiteboard. Attributes such as size, shape and weight may be among the examples mentioned. 2. Arrange students in a large circle with a range of balls in the middle. Include balls from the following sports: cricket, basketball, netball, Australian football, rugby league, soccer, squash, tennis and field hockey. Ask students to observe and feel the balls. 3. Introduce the idea of sorting the balls based on what they have in common or how they are alike. Arrange two hoops in the middle of the circle. In one hoop place two larger balls such as the netball and the basketball. Ask students to predict what grouping you are using to sort the balls. Add further balls to the hoops, such as the soccer ball and the Australian football ball. Once the students establish that the grouping is big and small, complete the rest of the sorting. 4. As a class, sort the balls according to properties such as: • shape: round/not round • weight: heavy/not heavy • texture: smooth/not smooth • air-filled/not air-filled • bounces easily/doesn’t bounce easily. 5. Show the names on the card of each of the sports that relate to the balls you have used for observation. Ask students to match the name of the sport with the type of ball. 6. Use a chart to organise the information gathered. Draw a picture of the ball in the left-hand column or add a digital photograph of the ball taken prior to the session.

Example

Type of ball Size Shape Weight Texture Inside Australian Oval (not Large Heavy Smooth Air football ball round) Tennis ball Small Round Light Fluffy Air Soccer ball Large Round Heavy Smooth Air Bounce ball bounce

© 2008 Australian Football League 7. Review the information gathered. Ask students what they know about the sports and why the balls are different. You would expect students’ responses may include ideas such as: • Large balls are easier to catch. • Large round balls bounce. • Small balls are easier to throw or hit with a bat/racquet. 8. Focus on the Australian football ball. Ask students, Does it make any difference that the ball is an oval shape? Ask students to describe what they know about how the ball is used in Australian football. They may identify kicking the ball, hand-passing, marking (catching the ball) and bouncing the ball by the umpire. How does the shape influence the way it is used in these situations? 9. List student ideas to follow up in the next session. You may expect ideas such as: • When you kick a football its shape makes it bounce in different directions. • Footballs are not round. You have to bounce a football in a special way. 10. Optional: Students observe the range of footballs that are available for young people to use; for example, plastic, rubber, soft toy versions, miniature promotional footballs. Students compare these balls with the traditional leather football. They give reasons why the balls were made from different materials. You may expect students to explain that, for example, rubber footballs are softer, easier to kick and good for starting to learn how to play football.

Discuss how young people in the past may not have had footballs made from different materials.

Session 2 1. Review the list developed in the previous session that describes their ideas on how the shape of the ball affects how it is used in the game. Ask students to explain their ideas. 2. Explain to students that they are going to experiment with two balls to see if there is a difference that shape makes to the way a ball moves. Review the chart and select one ball that is round and one ball that is oval. Encourage students to understand that you are choosing balls that are alike except that their shape is different. Explain the need for a fair test where only one part of your test is changed – in this case the shape of the ball.

Type of ball Size Shape Weight Texture Inside Australian Oval (not Large Heavy Smooth Air football ball round) Soccer ball Large Round Heavy Smooth Air

Bounce ball bounce

© 2008 Australian Football League 3. Discuss as a class how to set up a test that will provide evidence that there is a difference in the way the different shaped balls behave when rolled, bounced, kicked or thrown. Students record their ideas on Worksheet: Round and oval-shaped balls. Note: For younger students, the teacher may do this as a shared activity. 4. Carry out the test on a flat, hard surface such as a basketball court. Provide marked areas using cones to establish an area for each pair to work and test the balls. 5. Provide Prep students with appropriate support and guidance to work with a partner to roll the two balls along the ground. It may be useful to provide each group with a flat mat such as a rounders plate to aim for. Explain the importance of giving each ball the same-sized push. Encourage students to predict what they think will happen. Ask students to carefully observe how each ball moves after it is pushed. Ask students to mark the distance each ball rolls using appropriate equal informal units such as footsteps (one in front of the other). 6. Scaffold the learning for students at Years 1–2. Some students may be able to try their own tests. Explain the need to keep the test fair. With appropriate direction, students may decide to: • roll each ball using the same-sized push • drop each ball from the same height • kick each ball along the ground with the same-sized push (kick) • set up a ramp using a timber board and a chair and release each ball from the same height to roll down the ramp. 7. Encourage students to consider in their test whether it makes a difference which way the ball is dropped, ie pointy end down, rolled pointy end (end over end) or kicked pointy end facing down. 8. Provide students with exploration time to become familiar with the way each ball rolls and how to ensure the push is the same in each case. Encourage students to make a prediction before they carry out their test, observe what they find out and explain what happened. 9. As a class, share ideas and write statements to describe the effect shape has on how a ball behaves in different situations. Encourage students to link their evidence to their ideas; for example, round balls can be rolled in a straight line, oval balls don’t roll in a straight line and round balls roll further. Discuss the difficulty of making sure each push is the same. Explain that if the pushes are of different sizes the data collected is not reliable. 10. Record and report the experiments incorporating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). For example, use a digital camera to record the experiment results, then present them as a PowerPoint™ presentation. 11. Conclude the session by asking how Australian football players would need

to train to get used to playing with an oval ball. Bounce ball bounce

© 2008 Australian Football League Assessment ideas Assess students’ writing and the drawings they completed as part of their worksheet. Do they describe the difference the shape of the ball makes when they are bouncing, rolling, kicking or catching? Do they make a prediction? Have they recorded observations in sufficient detail? Do they attempt an explanation?

Optional extension • Students write and draw a page for a class book that describes what happened in their experiments. • Students could develop a new game for a particular type of ball, based on its properties. Bounce ball bounce

Name: ______

Draw or write what your test will be.

Predict Observe Explain (What you think will (What happened) (Why did it happen?) happen)

I found out that ______

______Bounce ball bounce ______