VAR in football

This project immerses students in the real-world controversy of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in football, a topic that sparks passionate debate. It provides a context for students to apply their knowledge of forces, speed, critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills, including designing experiments, considering uncertainty in measurements, evaluating claims, analysing data, and constructing evidence-based arguments.

The focus is on judging whether a player is offside or not. Students experience for themselves the shortcomings and bias of human judgements and then are introduced to 3 possible distinct investigation pathways, each designed with a different level of structure to accommodate a range of learning styles and abilities.

·       Investigation A: Psychology of judging offside - fully structured with complete method

·       Investigation B: Video analysis - partially structured for student to modify

·       Investigation C: Pitch factors – open investigation for students to design themselves

The investigation can be accomplished with standard classroom resources, and some free software.

To make the project manageable and effective for teachers, the downloadable resources include:

·       Presentation: introduces the challenge, stimulate classroom discussion, and guide students through the process 

·       Teacher & Technician Guide: running notes for the presentation, for each investigation/challenge, and equipment lists