MANTUA, Va. — As we inch closer to the Super Bowl, students at a Fairfax County elementary school are getting excited, but not for the actual game. Sixth graders at Mantua Elementary School are ready to see the math lessons they have been taught all year play out in the big game.
Mantua Elementary School math teacher Paul Malc is taking things a yard further for his students. He's using the game of football to keep things interesting for students.
When you walk into Mr. Malc's classroom, it's easy to miss the small hints of green and gold but listen in on a class, or talk to his students, and you'll quickly understand how being a Green Bay Packers fan has inspired his lessons.
“I taught and I talked to pythagorean theorem using Aaron Rodgers, throwing the ball across the field, which would represent the hypotenuse of a triangle. Randall Cobb, the receiver, around the vertical leg of triangle," Malc said explaining his methods. “A lot of teaching takes place with a textbook ... I wanted them to have reality.”
While the method helps Malc stay connected to the younger gernations, he also says his students have been more engaged, taking more notes, asking questions and taking their lessons home to their families, too.
“I thought it was really cool since I play multiple sports," sixth grader John DeSimone said. "I think it’s really fun.”
When WUSA9 visited Malc's classroom, his lesson featured probabilities for different plays that could be made in Sunday's Super Bowl. The students discussed desperation plays that could be seen Sunday and their success rate, ranging from Hail Mary passes to two-point conversions and onside kicks.
“There’s math all around us," Malc said. "Everything is math, everything is probabilities.”
Students said they already had a love for math but this helps them relate.
“I understood because I know some stuff about football from my brother and dad and so I just kind of followed along with what he was saying," sixth grader Julie Hatapogleo said.
The method is something Malc said he started nearly 20 years ago after working on the sideline of Packer's games as a statistician.
Malc has taught math at Mantua for 20 years. He said he also uses the probabilities of other realities, including when he was diagnosed in 2014 with colon cancer. Malc told WUSA9 that if the lesson doesn't apply to football, he adjusts depending on what reality fits best.
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