Basketball Lesson Plan: Culture

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Basketball Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Basketball, and supports the standard of analyzing how the culture and gameplay of the sport has changed since its invention. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

• What team sports have you participated in or seen played? What do you enjoy most about playing or watching team sports? 
• What do you know about basketball? What do you hope to learn? 

Step 2: BUILD BACKGROUND

• Read aloud the description on the Basketball topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: ENGAGE

Students express what they learned about basketball while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• • Make-a-Movie: Make a vlog from the POV of someone attending a professional basketball game that answers this question: What are important elements of an exciting game? (Essential Literacy Skill: Make logical inferences from explicit details) 
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying and explaining different ways basketball gameplay has evolved since 1892. (Essential Literacy Skill: Determine central ideas)
  • Creative Coding: Code a newscast announcing the invention of basketball as a new sport. (Essential Literacy Skill: Summarize key details)
  • Primary Source: Analyze a 1982 article and cite details to answer accompanying questions. (Essential Literacy Skill: Evaluate content presented in diverse formats)

Step 4: APPLY & ASSESS 

Apply: Students take the Basketball Challenge, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Assess: Wrap up the lesson with the Basketball Quiz. 

Step 5: EXTEND LEARNING

Time Zone X: Basketball: This interactive timeline game challenges players to put historical events in chronological order.

Culture Unit: Continue to build understanding about diverse beliefs and practices with more BrainPOP topics.

Additional Support Resources:

• Modifications for BrainPOP Learning Activities: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• BrainPOP Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.