The annual AFL Quiz was a hit at the Sunshine Coast’s Coolum State School this year with the Year 4’s taking part for the first time.
The AFL Quiz is a fun, exciting and unique national competition to test students’ Australian Football knowledge while developing their literacy, numeracy and IT skills.
Hundreds of teachers throughout Australia integrate the AFL Quiz into their learning programs. Questions that have been developed are linked to the new National Curriculum and compliment current NAPLAN testing programs. It is an educationally rich, online problem-solving experience based on collaboration.
Coolum State School’s Kelli-Jean Webster, Year 4 Teacher, got her 25 students involved this year with eight teams participating.
Amongst her group, Webster says not only were there Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns fans, but also fans of teams such as Carlton and Hawthorn.
We asked some questions about Coolum’s experience with the quiz:
Have your students participated in the AFL Quiz before? If not, what made you get them involved?
I had never heard of the competition before but was sent a link from our AFL School Ambassador, Mr Bruce Andrews. I looked at previous quizzes to see the type of quiz it was and what learning areas it covered. I saw it to be a wonderful opportunity for students to work on group and problem solving skills.
How did the AFL Quiz fit in with your everyday curriculum requirements?
At the time we were working on word problems in Numeracy as well as research skills in ICT lessons. The quiz allowed students to demonstrate these skills while completing the quiz.
What learning outcomes did you witness from your students when completing the AFL Quiz?
The students worked in groups of three with no support. They had to work together to depict what type of problem it was and how they could go about finding the answer. Numeracy involves being able to use different strategies to solve problems and I witnessed the students looking at different approaches to finding an answer that satisfied the group.
Would you get your students involved again?
I would definitely include the students in this quiz again.
As well as the AFL Quiz, the AFL provides curriculum resources to bring our great Indigenous game into the classroom. A vast collection of lessons and activities can be viewed online at www.afl.com.au/schools
