Using the Olympics to Teach

When there were only three TV channels, there was a pretty safe bet that if you mentioned something from last night's television line up, most people would have seen it.  Because of the number of choices for viewing on television and the internet, this is no longer the case.  Everyone once in a while, however, there is something that draws a large crowd.  The wise teacher should take advantage of that and plan for it.  The Olympics is one of those.

While no one event drew the majority of my students' eyes, the Winter Olympics as a whole certainly did.  Some students love figure skating.  Others are fascinated by snowboarding.  The biathlon, which most didn't know existed until last week, has captured the attention of many (because it is weird and different).  They may like to mock curling, but a lot of them watch it anyway.  

For a science teacher, the connection to the curriculum is pretty low hanging fruit.  My 8th grade had just finished the chapter on Motion, Forces, and Newton's Laws when the Olympics began.  The chapter that began two days into the games was on Momentum and Energy.  I would have to be crazy not to reference as many events as possible, especially since the Winter Olympics is basically 85 kinds of sliding.  For two weeks, there was primetime coverage of a momentum-based physics lab.  NBC even has a video series called NBC Learn, in which they have short documentaries on the science of each sport.  My kids liked the one on SlopeStyle.

Even if it hadn't been so perfectly timed to the chapter I was on, I would have used it in some way.  My physics students finished Mechanics last semester, and we had begun talking about waves and sound.  I still took the first five minutes each day to reference the physics of the games.  I put up photos of a couple of events each day, trying to choose ones that were as different as possible (luge and curling on the same day, for example).  Above the photo, I listed 3-5 physics concepts (momentum, Newton's 3rd law, rotational momentum, etc.) that were heavily represented by that event.  As I write this, I am watching the closing ceremonies, and I have seen several examples of concepts that I plan to use in the chapter on Light and Color as they use light as a kind of paint on the floor.

If you aren't a science teacher, the applications may not be as obvious, but they are certainly there.  

- Foreign language teachers can find coverage of the games in just about any language just be going to YouTube.  

- Latin teachers, you probably can't find Latin coverage, but you can obviously address the classical history of the games.  

- History teachers, this is a prime opportunity for teaching geography but also to address the culture of a country by discussing why some countries are always better at certain sports.  Do you teach about the Cold War?  I heard the Miracle on Ice mentioned at least half a dozen times this week even though it happened 38 years ago.  

- Math teachers, there are many opportunities to use real data.

- PE and Health teachers, duh.  Yours is as obvious as physics.

- English teachers, do you have your students write journals or blog?  The Olympics can provide a very enjoyable prompt.  My 8th graders' blogs were great this week because they were excited about getting to choose whichever Olympic sport they wanted.

You may not have time to construct entire lessons around the Olympics.  That's totally fine.  You will, however, reap the benefits of taking five minutes a day for two weeks to show how the subject you teach connects with something that has the attention of the world.