NFL TUESDAY GEOGRAPHY AND SPORTS
BY: Al Higginbotham
Social Studies Department Chairman
7th Grade Geography Teacher
Gloucester City Junior/Senior High School
Route 130 and Market Street
Gloucester City, New Jersey 08030

During the September 2002 in-service meeting with PNL, each department in our school was requested to create a project for our respective departments. The Social Studies department decided on current events. As a 7th grade Geography teacher I wanted something else. The PNL in-service provided me with the freedom and imagination to do something unique.

I decided to combine the NFL and geography as a learning experience for my students. The complete weekly game schedule throughout the country was a perfect combination to put Geography into my student's vocabulary.

I created a spreadsheet naming it NFL Tuesday Geography and Sports. The spreadsheet contains 7 columns (Game schedule, State to State Travel, Direction of Travel, Time Zones Traveled, Miles Traveled and Final Score) typed on legal 8.5 x 14 paper in the landscape mode.

Over the weekend I would review the newspaper to obtain the weekly schedule of the NFL and type the schedule onto the spreadsheet. On Tuesday the assignment would begin.

The procedure begins with each student receiving a spreadsheet, a blank United States map and a box of colored pencils. The first assignment is to label each state on the map and the name of their football team(s). The second assignment is to label a color code of the (4) four time zones, then color the states on the map to coincide with the time zone.

While the assignment is completed by the students individually, I use the overhead projector for my teaching copy. As the students plot team travel they would complete the spreadsheet by writing each state the team traveled through, the direction(s) the team traveled, the time zone(s) crossed by the team and using the internet students would obtain the mileage distance between the cities. On game day the students would complete the spreadsheet with the final scores for each games. The completed spreadsheet and map is handed in on Tuesday.

Then we have a summing up exercise. Students determine which teams traveled the greatest or least distance, which teams crossed the most or least time zones. The students enjoy coming up to the big board with the overhead to fill in the columns for each game. This exercise is well liked by the students and causes participation to be at its highest level.

In summary, I would say this has been a great exercise in learning to use maps. The main positive results were that students liked the exercise, had fun and learned.

I will continue this PLN project every year, and each year try to tinker with new uses such as college football, high school football and other sports.