March Madness: Using Tournament Brackets to Debate Academic Questions

Nyhed

How can the sports tournament bracket concept be applied to academic questions? How can competition enliven debate over perennial topics in your curriculum? In this lesson, students use the March Madness bracket structure to decide a question in their field of study, holding a research- and debate-based “tournament” to determine the “winners” of each round, until a final “winner” is declared. Along the way, they write essays about the last two topics standing, use the bracket to organize debates, and, perhaps, share their thoughts on N.C.A.A. tournament basketball.