Run a round robin handball competition

Round Robin: Who is the best handball player in our class? is a great inquiry that you can find in book 2 of the Thinking Through Mathematics series. Designed initially for students aged 8-10 years, we have now aligned the mathematical content with the intent of the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics.

What happens in the inquiry?
​Handball is a popular, easy-to-learn schoolyard game which can be adapted for tournament use. ​This unit provides opportunities for students to explore triangular numbers and to apply their understanding to create an appropriate draw for their tournament. ​

Students:

• Build on their existing knowledge of handball to design a round robin tournament draw. (Discover)
• Plan and run a class handball tournament to decide the best player in the class. (Devise, Develop)
• Use the data they generate to improve subsequent tournament designs. (Defend)

Year Six
Students determine the number of pools that might run in a competition, by drawing on their knowledge of triangular numbers. A handball tournament can be one way to identify triangular numbers and represent them using a real life context. 

• Identify and describe properties of prime, composite, square and triangular numbers. (ACMNA122)
• Interpret and use timetables. (ACMMG139)

Year Five
Students decide on an appropriate inquiry question that could be answered if the class conducted a tournament. As a class, have students decide how pool participants will be determined (random, seeded, etc.). Pool members can construct a workable draw and data collection sheet which includes match results and durations. 

• Pose questions and collect categorical or numerical data by observation or survey. (ACMSP118)
• Construct displays, including column graphs, dot plots and tables, appropriate for data type, with and without the use of digital technologies. (ACMSP119)
• Describe and interpret different data sets in context. (ACMSP120)

Year Four
Students investigate how long a game is. Timekeeping (including timeouts) using a stopwatch or timer will be useful for students to get a feel for the duration of a game (e.g. 1:15 is one minute and 15 seconds or 75 seconds). Pools play and collect data for several (about six) matches following constructed draws. Students will need to organise and interpret data discussing frequency and range.

• Convert between units of time. (ACMMG085)
• Use ‘am’ and ‘pm’ notation and solve simple time problems. (ACMMG086) 
• Select and trial methods for data collection, including survey questions and recording sheets. (ACMSP095) 
• Construct suitable data displays, with and without the use of digital technologies, from given or collected data. Include tables, column graphs and picture graphs where one picture can represent many data values. (ACMSP096) 
• Evaluate the effectiveness of different displays in illustrating data features including variability. (ACMSP097)

The full version of Round Robin: Who is the best handball player in our class? is available in the Members section of this site. For further information regarding alignment with the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, including how the inquiry supports student development in each of the Proficiencies, please download the alignment document we have created.
​We hope you enjoy running a handball tournament in your classroom.