March Madness Stats: Will Your Team Win?
Students will be divided into groups of four. Students will be assigned tasks: athletic director, assistant coach, public relations and statistician. In this lesson, students will determine if their team has what it takes to win March Madness.
Lesson Created By: Sharla Brown
Grade(s):
- 7
- 8
Subject(s):
Recommended Technology:
Internet/WiFi
Access to Adobe Spark
Laptop or Chromebooks
Other Instructional Materials or Notes:
Lesson Progression
Note: You can present this activity at any point in March Madness.
The teacher will inform the students:
It's March Madness! Your team has made it to the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament (Choose women or men's tournament). As officials of the athletic department for your school you are responsible for making the plans for your team to attend the tournament.
Travel plans will need to be made - Athletic Director
Statistics will need to be gathered - Statistician
Possible opponents need to be studied - Assistant Coach
A program page will need to be created - Public Relations Director
We want to make this a great experience for your athletes and coaching staff. Does your team have what it takes to win March Madness??
As the officials from your school, you will each be assigned a specific task to complete. You will find the exact task for your role when you get to the Process Page. As a group, you will be gathering information pertaining to your team attending the NCAA Division I basketball tournament.
Assign roles to students in groups of 4 students.
Assign a basketball team that is participating in the NCAA Division 1 tournament to each group of students (women or men).
Each group members completes their portion of the project.
Group members create individual Adobe Spark projects.
Teacher Notes
Differentiation: If looking to make material more accessible, consider providing a travel expense sheet with rounded numbers. Consider homogeneous vs. heterogeneous groupings.
Extension: How would the cost change if each team member was permitted to bring two additional people? Create 3 additional statistical questions regarding March Madness and use data to answer them.
Athletic Director Role
Description of role and responsibilities of the athletic director.
View ResourcePublic Relations Director Role
Description of role and responsibilities of the public relations director.
View ResourceAssessments
Final products include Adobe Spark websites/posters and worksheets for each role. See resources section.