1. March Madness Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] A WebQuest for 10 th – 12 th Grade (Statistics/Mathematics) Designed by Christine Herrera [email_address] Based on a template from The WebQuest Page Photo by: Flickr Jabzg

2. Introduction Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] In the spirit of March Madness, you will take on the role as a sportswriter who will be guest appearing on ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’. Now, you cannot just appear on the show without having a good amount of statistics and facts. You need to be a credible sportswriter! The four sportswriters that will be appearing on ‘Around the Horn’ will each be representing one of the conferences in the Men’s NCAA Tournament – the West, Midwest, South or Atlantic. Depending on which conference you are representing, you will decide who will make it to the final four. Deciding your top team cannot be based off of opinion but statistics and facts, because you are a credible sportswriter and your statements influences the viewer’s brackets! The ‘Around the Horn’ debate will consist of the four conferences defending their top pick in the first round. The points appointed during the first round will influence your standing in the second round. The second round will be a debate on the semifinals. Like in the real NCAA Tournament the East will face off against the Midwest, and the South vs. the West. The two winners of the second round will advance on to the Final Showdown. There the final two conferences will battle off to justify why their team will win the NCAA Tournament! BUT… Before you can make it on ‘Around the Horn’, you have to have a completed NCAA Tournament bracket for your conference, because you will be expected to reference it during the debate to gain more points!

3. The Task Student Page Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] As a sportswriter who will be guest appearing on ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’, you must make your self credible. To become credible you must… Title Research the conference you will be representing, there will be a total of sixteen teams. There will be three key elements you must research for each team to decide who will advance. Ultimately decide whom your top team is. complete a printable bracket for your conference. Your final task will be to collect any statistics or facts about your top team that will help your argument in ‘Around the Horn’. Photo by: Flickr Stitch

10. The Process Continued… Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] Continue filling out your bracket by comparing the team’s overall percentages. After you have done that visit Sports Illustrated and collect as much information about your top team as you can. For you will be appearing on ‘Around the Horn’ and will need to be prepared to defend that team!!

11. Evaluation Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] 4 3 2 1 Score Mathematical Reasoning Uses complex and refined mathematical reasoning. Uses effective mathematical reasoning Some evidence of mathematical reasoning. Did not use mathematical reasoning. Neatness and Organization The work is presented in a neat, clear, organized fashion that is easy to read. The work is presented in a neat and organized fashion that is usually easy to read. The work is presented in an organized fashion but may be hard to read at times. The work lacks organization and is difficult to read. Bracket and Excel Chart The bracket and chart is clear and greatly add to the reader's understanding. The bracket and chart is clear and easy to understand. The bracket and chart is somewhat difficult to understand. The bracket and chart is difficult to understand. Strategy/Procedures Typically, uses an efficient and effective strategy to solve the problem(s). Typically, uses an effective strategy to solve the problem(s). Sometimes uses an effective strategy to solve problems, but does not do it consistently. Does not use an effective strategy to solve problems, and has no consistency. Completion The bracket is complete. All but one part of the bracket is complete. More than one part of the bracket is incomplete. The bracket has multiple parts that are not complete.

12. Conclusion Student Page Title Introduction Task Process Evaluation Conclusion Credits [ Teacher Page ] Now you are ready, as a sportswriter to put your research and bracket to the test in the ‘Around the Horn’. At the end of the NCAA Tournament all the sportswriters will compare their brackets to how the bracket really played out, and as a class we will draw some conclusions and make observations. Along with deciding what other factors should we have considered besides the three we looked at? Photo By Flickr Mvonqrue

14. [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page Based on a template from The WebQuest Page Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion March Madness A WebQuest for 10 th – 12 th Grade (Statistics/Mathematics) Designed by Christine Herrera [email_address] Photo by: Flickr Jabzg

15. Introduction (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page When I began creating this lesson it was March, and there were a lot of people I knew who were creating brackets for March Madness. Asking them how they decided theirs (since I never created one myself) I realized that a lot of them based their decisions off of favoritism and how the teams were doing that season. I thought that favoritism was not a good enough deciding factor, thus giving me the idea of creating an activity for students to see that they can make a bracket that involves more mathematical reasoning. I realized that there are a lot of factors that influence the bracket’s outcome, and considering all of them would take too much time and in reality this project would have to have a time restraint. Thus why the students are only evaluating three factors, and focusing on only one section of the bracket instead of the entire thing. While collecting data students can use each other as resources during that part. However, when they decide percentages they should do that individually. No two students should have the exact same numbers in the end, cause there are so many variables they individually get to decide on. Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion

16. Learners (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page High School students in the grades 10 th and 12 th are the ones who should do this project. Not because this lesson involves difficult math because it doesn’t, but the analysis portion of this project is higher thinking. Or at least I want them to use higher level thinking. For I want them to produce something that used good reasoning that they can properly justify. The students who will being doing this should have already analyzed data, and consider variables of situations. Because without any prior knowledge of how to do that they will not do so on this project. Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion

17. Curriculum Standards (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion Standard 3: Students use data collection and analysis, statistics, and probability in problem-solving situations and communicate the reasoning used in solving these problems. 3.2. Analyze statistical claims for erroneous conclusions or distortions 3.5. Use experimental and theoretical probability to represent and solve problems involving uncertainty 3. 6. Solve real-world problems with informal use of combinations and permutations

18. The Process (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page The process will take more that one or two class periods, along with the final day that the class does its ‘Around the Horn’. To start off the process you must split the class into fours to have each group representing the East, West, Midwest, or South. I would recommend not having to many friends in the same group because the temptation for them to do the exact same percentages will be too tempting. Or if you don’t care if friends are looking up the same information just state at the beginning of the project that no one in the same conference can have the same percentages. If you don’t know what ‘Around the Horn’ is you can visit ESPN and look it up there or on Wikipedia. Wikipedia spells it out for you, and of course reenacting it out just the way the real show is done is not realistic. So make up your own versions based off of theirs. Make it as simple or as complicated as you want it. That part is really up to you and your creativity along with what you think your class will like and can handle appropriately. If you don’t think that your class may handle debating, you may not want to do ‘Around the Horn’. If you don’t want your class to spend that much time in the lab doing the research have the class start late on in the bracket, for instance at the second round instead of the first. The number of teams they will have to look up with be cut in half. Their starting point can really depend on how much time you have to do this project. Another time saver could be only having your students look up total field goals instead of the three different bucket percentages. The student process is very self explanatory, and let your students know that you are a resource and so are their peers, but they have to do their own work! Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion

19. Resources (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page Links: http://tinyurl.com/64dnd5 This link is to Wikipedia, which is a great resource of information. It is very accurate, and is updated on a regular basis. This website is the resource for the students to find out who has qualified that year in the NCAA Tournament. It is very nice because it breaks the teams up in East, West, Midwest, and South for the students, but does not have them in bracket form. Leaving it up to the students to do so. http://tinyurl.com/3lpwye This link is from the official NCAA website. It is a great resource to find statistics, it is the archives for team’s final statistics. What is really nice for the students is that the website does not just list all the teams, but they just have to type in that team they want to look at and it sends them there. You can also search specifically for a coach as well. http://tinyurl.com/3q6g76 This link is to CBS Sports which is in association with the tournament. The website gives them the information about previous tournaments, who’s been it and how far have previous teams have made it. It gives them more information than they need for this project but shows them that is a great resource to use if they ever create their own outside of class. http://tinyurl.com/pa4fa This link is to ESPN where it takes them to the Division I teams. Allowing the students to look at who the teams played, and access to those teams. They can even take a look at the team’s roster. Which is also a great resource they could use when deciding their own bracket outside of class. http://tinyurl.com/6qsd3k This link is to Sports Illustrated. I picked a well-known source so that the students could have something that they could easily remember they looked at for future reference. The website also has information about conference leaders which could be good information to use in the ‘Around the Horn’. For the ‘Around the Horn’ activity you may want to ask other teachers to be supervisors. For there will be multiple versions of it going on at one time, and it will be difficult to supervise all of them. Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion

20. Evaluation (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion After they complete this Webquest the class will act out their version of the ‘Around the Horn’ and you are the supervisor and you can ask the students why they chose that ranking and those specific percentages. If they don’t have good reasoning, then they don’t advance and get marked off. Then when you do the wrap up with the entire class you can use a students reasoning that was good to show what was expected. The rubric is a good evaluation of the students thought process and final bracket. It does not evaluate the ‘Around the Horn’. I attend to have that part graded separately.

21. Teacher Script (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page I feel that this webquest does not mandate a script. I would like teachers to take this and make it their own. I don’t feel that this is perfect for every class, alterations could be made to better fit the class. Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion

22. Conclusion (Teacher) [ Student Page ] Title Introduction Learners Standards Process Resources Credits Teacher Page A lot times students don’t realize the importance or significance of math in their lives. This is a fun way to show them how math and numbers apply to a real life situation, and this situation just does not occur once. The NCAA Tournament happens every year, and you can inform that if they keep up doing a process like they could improve it, and alter it to get what they believe is the best deciding process. Evaluation Teacher Script Conclusion