Bracket Chats: Promoting Bureaucratic Knowledge through Tournament Brackets

In-class games engage students in active learning through the application of theoretical concepts, sparking class discussion, and creating interaction between instructors and students. While students often know a great deal about the presidency, many have little knowledge of the executive branch beyond the Office of the President. The bureaucracy is more abstract and unfamiliar to students, in terms of its breadth, responsibilities, and power. To increase knowledge of bureaucratic organizations, as well as their importance and functions, students complete a March Madness-style tournament bracket of executive departments, agencies, and bureaus. Students must navigate the tricky venture of seeding, evaluating, and comparing agencies, always mindful of a potential upset. The completion of individual and collective brackets spurs classroom discussion on the purpose, roles, and variety of bureaucratic agencies, including the influence of executive agencies on our everyday lives.