Learning Is the Real Win in March Mammal Madness

Our girls’ brackets may be busted, but we know it’s because they saw life science in action! Created by researchers at Arizona State University, this tournament uses real scientific data to simulate head-to-head matchups between animals (and even a few non-mammals!). Just like the NCAA tournament, winners advance through four divisions to the ultimate “Final Roar,” and then those winners face off. 

To prepare for the matchups, seventh graders researched the combatants and completed a research slide. They had to describe the traits and strengths of their assigned organism, identify potential weaknesses, determine what kind of environment they live in, and specify the type of consumer it is and its position in the food chain. Our girls strengthened the research skills they’ve learned with middle and upper school librarian Marie Ryall by seeking out reliable resources to get trusted information to complete the task. From there, the girls peer-reviewed each other's work, and then the slides were ready for the next steps: comparing combatants and choosing winners for each battle.


In making their brackets, our girls applied what they’ve learned about adaptations, food chains and food webs, habitats, ecosystems, and biomes. They researched competitors, analyzed strengths and weaknesses, and made evidence-based predictions.

Read below to see how our girls put their knowledge to the test, because in March Mammal Madness, learning is the real win:

• “March Mammal Madness reinforces the topics we have previously learned in our life science class and puts them into action.” -Marel Crump ’31
• “To make our predictions, we had to gather research from reliable sources, similar to our taxonomy project. We learned what type of consumer each creature is, which we had studied in our previous units.” -Maggie Spence ’31
• "March Mammal Madness shows us how many organisms have unique traits, differ from each other, live in a range of places, and get their food in a variety of ways.” -Cate Crawford ’31
• “March Mammal Madness helps us learn about animals in their habitats, biomes, and ecosystems, and how they have adapted to their surroundings. We also gain a better understanding of the food chain.” -Annslee Cain ’31
• “Many of the animals live in different biomes and have adaptations to their home. This means that if they go and compete in other places, it would be hard for them to win.” -Olivia Jones ’31
• “Simulating different animals in new environments demonstrates why not every organism benefits from living somewhere else.” -Taylor Harris ’31

Like March Madness, the matchups lead to triumphant victories and frustrating upsets. But in March Mammal Madness, our girls know that learning is still winning.