Two Mt. Lebanon School District middle school teachers are taking a different approach to teaching current events of the world by using a website called FANschool that also will have students predict how states will vote on Tuesday.
With FANschool, Mellon Middle School sixth grade teacher Bruce Fronk and fellow teacher Matthew Mikesell have divided their classes into leagues. Students research different countries and then “draft” the ones they think will get the most points. The countries that have the most points are the ones that are in the news for positive reasons, and the countries with the least points are in the news for negative matters — or not in the news at all.
“It’s like fantasy sports with countries,” said Mr. Fronk.
Students can “trade” their countries throughout the school year, and the team with the highest score wins a “WWE kind of championship belt” designed by the teachers.
“We have kids every day checking FANschool on their own because they want to win the championship belt,” Mr. Fronk said. “They’re having fun, but they’re also learning at the same time.”
With Election Day on the horizon, Mr. Fronk and Mr. Mikesell are using another aspect of FANschool — the “election challenge.” This time, students research states and make predictions on whether they will be won by the Democratic or Republican candidate.
It also includes a contest for the kids and teachers with the opportunity win some money.
Mr. Mikesell said the kids will participate in four rounds of the election challenge. In Round 1, there are 27 states that are the “solid states” that are “truly going to be Democrat or Republican, if you just do the research,” Mr. Mikesell said.
Students can research the states on FANschool, which will link them with articles about each of the states and the way they have voted.
The resources for kids to do the research are imbedded in the FANschool program, so they are coming from reputable sources.
“The more kids are actively involved, the better they can decide on which states are going to be Republican or Democrat,” Mr. Mikesell said.
Round 2 will have the students researching 15 states that are considered to be “leaning states.”
“So the kids are going to have to do a little bit of research and try to figure out, ‘OK, out of these 15 leaning states, which way are they going to go?’” Mr. Mikesell said.
Round 3 consists of nine “battleground states,” and students have to get the closest prediction possible as to how those states are going to vote.
Finally, Round 4 delves a bit deeper into the numbers.
“Round 4 is pretty cool because, let’s pretend, if there’s a tie. ... Then Round 4 asks the kids some questions based on percentages,” based on the age groups of the people who are voting, Mr. Mikesell said.
Students can also research local and state races.
The students have until 6 p.m. Monday to submit their predictions to the FANschool website. Students can also enter to win a $1,000 scholarship from FANschool and can win another $1,000 by writing and posting articles to the site.
Sixth grader Kaityn Gibson said she has enjoyed the election challenge thus far.
“I like the election one because it involves us in something kids don’t really get involved in,” Kaityn said.
“I’m watching the news every night now instead of just once a week or just scanning my phone,” added student Vanshika Jain.
“The end-all goal product is to help the kids become global citizens and aware of global issues,” Mr. Fronk said.
Student Rocco Neidinger said he likes all the aspects of FANschool.
“I love FANschool because it shows what is happening in the world,” Rocco said. “This is the best project that I have been a part of this year.”
“We’re not in the business of trying to tell the kids what they think. What makes our class so awesome, and the age group so awesome, is that these kids are starting to formulate their own thoughts and their own opinions,” Mr. Fronk said.
“We’re giving them the environment where it’s safe for them to test out their different ideas and try to figure out, ‘What do I think about this?’”
“It’s the ‘change the world one person, one day at a time [approach].’ And we do that through equipping these students with these skills so when they step out of Mellon Middle School they do become more productive citizens in our community,” Mr. Mikesell said.
Further information on FANschool can be found at www.fanschool.org.
Deana Carpenter, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.
First Published: October 30, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
