MIT Science of Baseball Program
Despite the benefits of economic advancement, students from local urban communities often still are underprepared to enter many technical professions. In collaboration with families, schools, little league clubs, and other community organizations, the MIT Science of Baseball Program (MSBP) aims to spark a passion for science in eighth-grade boys by approaching them through a sport they love: baseball.
During the summer, 40 boys from Boston and Cambridge’s neediest communities take part in this free, four-week program. Participants learn the principles of math, physics, and statistics as they apply them to baseball, and play in daily scrimmage games.
The program’s integrated curriculum includes both academic and athletic components:
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Academic Curriculum
The academic curriculum is sub-divided into four modules, each organized around a fundamental baseball skill: running, hitting, fielding, and throwing. Each module integrates lessons in math, science, history, and social studies. Through readings and discussions, students explore the history of the Negro Leagues, the influence of culture on the game in Japan, and the implications of the rising influence of Latino ballplayers in the Major Leagues. Students also collect, track, and analyze scrimmage results and learn to apply their knowledge of statistics to assign players, select line-ups, and formulate pitching strategies for the next day’s scrimmage. Homework to reinforce the day’s topics may include short readings, problem-solving exercises, and analyzing Major League game statistics.
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Athletic Curriculum
Students not only read and write about, experiment with, and work on basic baseball skills, but also play baseball. MSBP gives students a chance to develop their athletic skills as they master principles of physics. After basic drills, students play three-inning scrimmage games, and as they improve athletically, they use their new proficiency in statistics to study baseball strategy and learn to make decisions about game outcomes based on probability.
