Geometry: Circling the Bases

Greetings, teachers! We're pleased to announce that our Geometry curriculum will be undergoing an exciting transformation in 2012. We will be adding grade-level appropriate pre and post visit lessons for you to do in your classroom. As the lessons are completed and edited by the Hall of Fame's research team they will be added to this page. Please check back throughout the year for additional materials.

If you have further questions about this subject unit, please contact the Education Department at 607-547-0347.

Introduction

One of the great features of baseball stadiums and fields is that no two are alike - anymore. Maybe there's a big hill in centerfield, as in Houston's Minute Maid Park, or maybe there's a 37-foot tall "Green Monster" forming Boston's left field wall. Outfielders need to know the dimensions and special characteristics of the fields in which they play to help them decide how to field the ball - do they play the fly ball off the wall or try to jump and catch it for an out? Make an informed decision in a dugout full of shapes, area, perimeter, diameter, Pythagorean theorems and other aspects of geometry while learning about some of the "angles" of playing baseball. Will you hit a single, double, triple or home run? It depends on the hitter's math skills in this interactive game where circling the bases means more than just hitting a home run.

Objectives

In completing this lesson, students will:

• Examine how everyday geometric concepts, such as circumference, area, perimeter, diameter, etc., apply to baseball and the real world.
• Analyze characteristics of the baseball playing field and interpret data in terms of fundamental geometric operations.
• Understand the characteristics of shapes in baseball and how they can be applied using basic geometric principles.

In Advance of a Field Trip or Videoconference

Pre-Program Classroom Activities

1. Ask students to create a diagram of their favorite team's baseball field. Have them compare distances to the fences between ballparks.
2. Go to Ballparks.com and have students compare the distance of outfield fences throughout the history of some of the legendary ballparks (Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, etc...). How do they compare with newer versions of those parks, or the newest ballparks in Major League Baseball?
3. Have students design their own baseball stadium, complete with notations and distances and simulate a baseball game on the students' products.
4. Ask students to hypothesize how changing distances in ballpark dimensions and baseball rules would affect statistics and player performance. These changes might encompass the distance to the outfield fence, distances between bases or the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate.

Vocabulary
Angle
Area
Batter's box
Circumference
Diameter
Hypotenuse
Intersecting
Line
Parallel
Parallelogram
Perimeter
Pi
Pitching rubber
Polygon
Pythagorean Theorem
Quadrilateral
Radius
Rectangle
Rhombus
Right angle
Segment
Symmetry
Volume

Post-Experience Wrap-Up

Post-Program Classroom Activities

1. Have students find examples of triangles, circles, rectangles and other polygons in a baseball stadium.
2. Ask students to hypothesize how changing distances in ballpark dimensions and baseball rules would affect statistics and player performance. These changes might encompass the distance to the outfield fence, distances between bases or the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate.

Relevant Learning Standards

This unit meets National Learning Standards in Mathematics, Geometry, and Technology. Contact us for information on specific standards: 607-547-0347. 

Participating in a Videoconference?

Click here for a copy of the Circling the Bases Videoconference checklist.