Arizona State University’s March Mammal Madness program has been implemented in FHC’s science classes for five to six years now, yet the program hasn’t lost any of its educational value—or the fun it brings to students across grade levels.
Beginning in 2013, March Mammal Madness was created by Dr. Katie Hinde at Arizona State University, but now almost half of all US counties use the program, and it reaches hundreds of thousands of students.
Featuring a bracket style similar to NCAA basketball brackets, 62 organisms are pitted against each other until only one remains in fictional “battles” based on real-world characteristics and behaviors. Although animals are given a ranking of likely success, that’s not to say upsets aren’t frequent.
AP Biology and FHC science teacher Patricia Richardson feels the March Mammal Madness program is beneficial, both because of the levity and fun it brings to the classroom during March and because of the knowledge it teaches students.
“[The best part of March Mammal Madness] is just [getting] exposure to all of the different organisms; they use real animal behavior, real encounters, and feeding behaviors,” Richardson said.
FHC classes Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, and Anatomy all incorporate March Mammal Madness into their school days throughout the month of March.
However, students in AP Biology, typically a senior class, have a slightly different role in March Mammal Madness. Students research one of the organisms and create a slide and poster with information about the animal’s adaptations and characteristics that other classes will then use to form their brackets.
“[AP Bio students] get a chance to review what animal behaviors are, dig into some primary research,” Richardson said. “The research that they do to create the slides [will be used] to create predictions.”
Clearly, March Mammal Madness isn’t all probability and luck—real-world characteristics and mechanisms will still be involved in the science-based platform, so the work the AP Biology students do is crucial to having a successful bracket.
Senior Logan Tiggleman, a student in AP Biology, appreciates the March Mammal Madness project as a way he and his classmates can participate as the creators behind the game they enjoyed years prior.
“It’s fun,” Logan said. “It’s a good way to learn about more [unique] animals, like the coati. It’s just interesting to learn more about [different] animals.”
March Mammal Madness isn’t just for pure enjoyment, though. It provides numerous benefits to the AP Biology students running the program, as well as for the other students creating brackets for March Mammal Madness.
FHC science teacher Kristy Butler has been using the March Mammal Madness program in her classes for over five years now and sees the helpful impact it has on her older AP Biology students.
“It’s a good review for the [AP Bio students] because we start with adaptations, animal behavior, and natural selection in the beginning of the year, and March Mammal Madness is towards the end of the year,” Butler said. “They get to revisit all of those concepts and ideas and think about what might be helpful for the other students [when making brackets].”
For Logan, it’s obvious that a successful bracket comes from a decent amount of preparation and knowledge about the contestants being selected for a victory, regardless of their numerical ranking.
Stating that he feels his bracket has an advantage due to the preparation and research he conducted beforehand, it’s clear to all March Mammal Madness contestants that doing a background check is crucial.
“The best part about March Mammal Madness is the competitiveness of it and learning more about [the animals],” Logan said. “The more that you learn, the more that you win.”
March Mammal Madness isn’t for a grade, it won’t drastically change a student’s understanding of biology, and the highlight reel videos may be cheesy at times, yet it will continue to be a long-standing FHC tradition. As its reach spreads across the United States, March Mammal Madness will continue to prove a March scientific necessity.
Its impact on the students and teachers in FHC’s science classes is undeniable, and one thing is for certain: March Mammal Madness is here to stay in the halls of FHC.
“[March Mammal Madness] doesn’t take very long, and it’s something that is still related to biology, but it’s something that’s not super heavy or a lot of points grade-wise,” Butler said. “It’s fun to see how your bracket does–it’s just like March Madness but in a very nerdy school way.”
