Animal Research Project Turns into Bracket-Style Tournament for Fourth Graders
For a project in Megan Boyle’s STEAM class at Frank G. Lindsey Elementary School this month, fourth-grade students competed in a “Who Would Win?” bracket-style tournament where students throughout the school will continue to vote until a winner is chosen.
The fun focuses around an animal research project. Students in each fourth-grade STEAM class were broken into five groups per class and given an animal to research. They had to learn about external and internal structures, habitats, strengths and weaknesses of that animal and argue why their animal is the king of the animal kingdom.
The project is based on New York state’s fourth-grade science standards, which require students to learn about information processing and animal survival.
Once each group’s animal research was complete, students had to create a commercial for their animal. They had the freedom to create the commercial on any digital platform. The commercials discussed the important characteristics that made each animal special.
“We had slideshows, videos and posters,” Boyle said. “The great thing is seeing students’ creativity come out. We had news segments, songs, game shows and poems.”
After all of the students recorded and watched their class videos, 16 groups from the fourth grade were selected to compete in four “Who Would Win?” brackets — Slay Today, Magic Mackin, Boyle Bucks, and Sailor Strong conferences. Students throughout the school voted for a winner in each of the eight matchups.
The voting will continue for the remaining groups until one winner is deemed victorious. Boyle said the winning group will be treated to a pizza party.
Click on the links below to view the matchups in each of the four brackets: