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Tracking Olympic Gold
 

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Subjects
  • Arts & Humanities
    --- Visual Arts
  • Educational Technology
  • Mathematics
    --- Applied Math, Arithmetic, Statistics
  • Social Studies
    --- Current Events, Geography, History (World)

Grades

Pre-K, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Brief Description

Students use print or online resources to track daily Olympics results. They build graphs as they track medal winners by country and/or sport.

Objectives

Students will

  • use print or online resources to track the results of the Olympic Games.
  • record daily results on graphs.
  • use graphs to collect information.
  • respond to questions that require them to interpret graphs.
  • pass an assessment test that indicates they have mastered grade-appropriate graphing skills.

    Keywords

    Olympic Games, graph, geography, newspaper, sports, winter, interpret, data, critical thinking

    Materials Needed

  • daily newspaper and/or computers with Internet access
  • art supplies as needed

    Lesson Plan

    Have students track daily Olympic Games results in daily newspapers or on such Web sites as the official Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics site, NBC 2014 Winter Olympics (NBC is broadcasting the Olympic Games in the United States), or one of many other sports Web sites covering the events.

    Have students track the medal results on a bar graph. Each student can create his or her own graph, students can work in small groups to create graphs, or the class can create a single large graph. Following are a few suggested activities:

    Have each student create a graph that includes the participating countries along its left axis. A list of participating countries can be found at the official Olympics site. To the right of each country name on the graph should appear a grid of 35 boxes of equal size (assuming that any one country might win as many as 35 medals, based on the Final Medal Standings -- Winter Olympics 2006). Have students update their graphs on a daily basis. As each country wins a medal, students color in a box on the graph next to that country's name. Students could use crayons or markers of gold, silver, and bronze to indicate which medal was awarded. If crayons/markers of those colors are unavailable, students should create their own color key for tracking each of the three medal categories.

    Arrange students into six groups. Each group will create a graph that shows certain medal results. Two groups will create graphs tracking the number of gold medals awarded to each country, two groups will track silver-medal winners, and the other two groups will track the bronze-medal competition. As a country wins a gold, silver, or bronze medal, students color the appropriate box on their graph. Students might also include a flag next to the name of each country; they can draw the flags or print them from a Web resource such as World Flag Database or Flags of the World.

    Have students follow the directions in the activity above, except instead of coloring a box on the graph, students should record the medal winners by posting next to each country's name an icon that represents the sport in which each medal was awarded. Students can create an icon for each sport or download icons. 

    Have students update their graphs daily. Each day, ask students to use their graphs (or the class graph) to answer grade-appropriate questions, such as the following:
    • How many bronze medals has the United States won?
    • Which country has more silver medals -- Austria or Italy?
    • How many countries have won five or more gold medals?
    Provide lots of practice questions for students so they will be prepared to pass a graph-reading assessment test when the 2002 Olympic Winter Games are over.

    Assessment

    At the conclusion of the Olympic Winter Games, have students use their graphs to correctly respond to 8 of 10 teacher-created questions. The questions above might serve as models.

    Lesson Plan Source

    Education World

    Submitted By

    Gary Hopkins

    National Standards

    FINE ARTS: Visual Arts

    • GRADES K - 4
      NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, And Processes
      NA-VA.K-4.3 Choosing And Evaluating A Range Of Subject Matter, Symbols, And Ideas
      NA-VA.K-4.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts And Other Disciplines
    • GRADES 5 - 8
      NA-VA.5-8.1 Understanding And Applying Media, Techniques, And Processes
      NA-VA.5-8.3 Choosing And Evaluating A Range Of Subject Matter, Symbols, And Ideas
      NA-VA.5-8.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
    • GRADES 9 - 12
      NA-VA.9-12.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
      NA-VA.9-12.3 Choosing And Evaluating A Range Of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
      NA-VA.9-12.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts And Other Disciplines
    MATHEMATICS SOCIAL SCIENCES: Civics
    • GRADES K - 4
      NSS-C.K-4.4 Other Nations and World Affairs
    • GRADES 5 - 8
      NSS-C.5-8.4 Other Nations and World Affairs
    • GRADES 9 - 12
      NSS-C.9-12.4 Other Nations and World Affairs
    SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography TECHNOLOGY

    See more Olympics lessons at /a_lesson/lesson/lesson250.shtml.

    Click here to return to this week's Winter Olympics lesson plan page.


    Updated 12/23/2013