Inside Thirteen blogger: Kelly Lafferty, Associate Producer, Cyberchase

Why were thousands of kids screaming “pentagon!” at a Mets game on Wednesday, April 30? Cyberchase Day at Shea Stadium! Over 10,000 kids were captivated (that’s right, 10,000 kids were quiet in a baseball stadium) as Matt “Harry” Wilson and Digit LeBoid hosted an interactive pre-game show featuring Mets players John Maine and Aaron Heilman. With his voice booming through the stadium and his face projected on the huge Jumbotron screen over a Cyberspace background, Maine asked the kids if they could name the geometrical shape of home plate – and NYC students’ thunderous reaction proved they understand the connection between math and sports.

Cyberchase’s 25-minute pre-game show demonstrated ways that math can be used in sports. Kids were even challenged to estimate how many hot dogs are consumed during a game. With 30,000 people at a game, about 1 out of every three people will chow down on a hot dog – so kids discovered that ~10,000 hot dogs are devoured.

Throughout the game Harry & Digit made field appearances with Mr. Met to the delight of cheering fans of all ages. Wednesday was the second time that Cyberchase was invited to Shea Stadium … and both days have proven a “home run” (sorry but i had to!) for the WNET team, the Mets, and most importantly, Cyberchase fans.

Cyberchase Day at Shea is part of Cyberchase’s Math & Sports initiative, which gives kids tools to develop winning game strategies while encouraging them to get active with math. Go to Cyberchase for math & sports online games, episode information, and activities for teachers and parents.