Integrating Math Into Elementary PE

There are daily opportunities for students to practice mathematics in physical education (PE) classes. In his book How the Brain Learns Mathematics, Dr. David A. Sousa suggests, “Look for opportunities to present and solve problems outdoors or in a large indoor area like the gymnasium.” Movement and social interactions tend to increase engagement and enhance retention, and PE is a great place to apply mathematics to real-life situations. Here are some ways to integrate math into gym class.

Why combine math and PE?

Many, if not all, math standards can be applied through PE games and activities: particularly measurement and data, but also computation—e.g., measuring, collecting, and representing data related to fitness goals, keeping scores, statistics, etc. PE environments are highly accessible to math because they are naturally brain-friendly.

Gymnasiums are large and open, and they have colored lines and circles, goals, and scoreboards. Playgrounds have equipment such as slides and swings, and often they have walking tracks and pavement that can be used as large canvases for chalk drawings. Not only is PE included in the everyday schedule of most schools, but the gym is used by everyone. This means that whatever measurement tools, math manipulatives, or student artifacts exist in the PE space have the potential to be seen and used by every student every day.

PE is a school day staple. The classes are mandated by most state legislatures, and student polls in the United States, Canada, and Asia have shown that PE is a favorite subject of many students. Perhaps one of the reasons we value our time in the gym is the element of authenticity there. In his book High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching, Jim Knight writes, “Authentic learning really engages students because they consider it relevant, interesting, and important.” Integrating PE with mathematics by clarifying the connections between the learning objectives is one way to make the most of the synergy between the subjects.

Creating connections between teachers

Teachers can model cooperation and relationship-building by working together to plan and teach lessons that apply mathematics within PE settings. Consider taking some time to print the PE and mathematics standards on separate cards. Teachers can brainstorm lesson ideas by sorting the cards based on how the standards from the different subjects might relate to one another.

For the sake of time, this can be a brief discussion without diving into the specific content. For example, compare Standard 3 of SHAPE America’s National Physical Education Standards, “Develops social skills through movement,” with Mathematical Practice 3 in the Common Core State Standards: “Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.” After noticing the connections between these standards, teachers might decide to promote more student discussions by developing sentence stems that could be used in both PE and mathematics settings.

For teachers who are interested in giving math a full workout, PE class offers students opportunities to put their math in motion. Most students like to measure how fast they can run and how far they can jump; and when they measure, collect, and track their own data, they build conceptual understanding—the foundation of procedural fluency.

Many mathematical skills such as converting units of measurement are difficult to understand out of context. Instead of using real-life simulations, elementary teachers sometimes resort to mnemonic devices and step-by-step procedures that circumvent the development of conceptual understanding. However, when the PE coach teams up with the math teacher, questions like “How far did you jump?” become more personal, genuine, and interesting: “How many feet did you jump?” “What is that distance in inches?” “How did you know?” “Can you show another student your strategy?”

alignment of pe and math standards

What if we aligned some of our PE activities with our grade-level mathematics standards? This may be as simple as incorporating vocabulary from the mathematics standards into the PE lesson or vice versa. Measurement is a skill that is best learned through authentic experiences, and PE class offers lots of opportunities for practice.

• Consider simply finding opportunities to apply the terms “more of”/“less of” in a kindergarten game of bowling or using that same context for word problems in math class.
• We can challenge first graders to measure their long jumps with same-length units such as connecting cubes or by laying down objects such as Frisbees side by side. (For example, “How many Frisbees long did I jump?”)
• Second graders are expected to be able to measure and estimate lengths in standard units. Why not encourage them to estimate how far they can throw a shot put and then measure their throw with rulers, yardsticks, or meter sticks?
• Third graders could use foam puzzle mats to measure the area and perimeter of the volleyball court. Multistep word problems can be daunting for young mathematics students; however, when computation is mixed with competition, it becomes an intriguing challenge.
• Fourth and fifth graders love to keep up with how many basketball shots they can ring. Give them multicolored basketballs that are worth different amounts of points and let them create bar graphs with sticky notes that match the colors. When they finish shooting, they can take the graphs back to math class and tally up the points. With the same basketball data, they can create line plots and discuss the different representations.

Math needs a workout. The goal is not necessarily to put math into PE, but to reveal that it is already there. Students experience math in elementary PE classes almost every day: collecting fitness data, measuring length and time, and adding up points. However, math standards might not be referenced in gymnasiums and on playgrounds. We can improve our instruction if we work together. Team up with your fellow educators and discuss the many ways mathematics can be integrated within your school environment. Get ready, math! It’s time to pump you up!