TEACHING HISTORICAL GEOLOGY CONCEPTS WITH THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (NBA)'S FAMILY TREE

The National Basketball Association (NBA)’s family tree offers an excellent visual representation of basic concepts discussed in historical geology courses. Invented in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the sport of basketball has undergone several changes in the numbers and locations of teams which can be examined in a geology course. Students do not need to know the rules of basketball or how the game is played to understand the historical geology concepts being discussed.

When showing the various features of the NBA family tree, I make sure to discuss the scientific definition of these terms and give examples from the geologic record. For example, the overall NBA tree shows that basketball teams have evolved through punctuated equilibrium (expansion years), whereas the WNBA has grown through phyletic gradualism. The main difference to point out to students is the scale of time when comparing the two family trees. Each team is classified with binomen nomenclature. In the NBA tree the “species” names have changed, such as the Washington Bullets to Washington Wizards, and sometimes the genus name will change, such as the New Orleans Jazz to Utah Jazz. I ask students what would cause this to happen in the biological record. New teams/populations “evolve” during expansion years, and teams go “extinct” when they fold. Some teams have remained in “stasis” since the beginning, such as the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. Students know that players come and go on teams, similar to individuals in a population. In the end, I ask students if each NBA team fits the definition of and represents a true population of individuals.

Students respond very well to this supplemental tool in teaching about historical geology. The NBA Family Tree is a very visual representation of some basic evolutionary concepts. Male and female students both respond positively, so using sports does not appear to be a gender bias in the classroom. Interestingly, most students already have a favorite team that they route for and they examine how their team fits into the bigger picture of the tree. An informal survey of students reveals that students enjoy the discussion and that the NBA Family Tree greatly assists them in understanding historical geology.