During an Olympics year, the world joins together to celebrate athleticism, patriotism, and history. Learn about the Olympiads of the 20th century with a research project in which groups research one year's Olympic Games. They note the location, the numbers of countries and athletes competing, the country with the most medals, and the historical context of that year's Games.

Concepts

the olympic games, the olympics, historical context, historical research

Show More Show Less

Additional Tags

social studies

Show More Show Less

Instructional Ideas

• Use during an Olympic year or when discussing the history of the Olympics
• Encourage groups to create multimedia presentations, including slideshows or videos, about the information they discover
• Once groups have completed their research, organize them into a jigsaw activity in which representatives from each group meet with others to share what they have learned
• Connect between physical education and social studies

Classroom Considerations

• Consider leaving out the provided reference page, as learners could discover more about each year in their own research
• Requires access to the Internet and individual computers or tablets; if you want to make the research more straightforward, consider printing pages about each year for groups
• Project only covers years through 2000, but you could easily extend it to address more current years

Pros

• Encourages research skills in an engaging topic
• Provides informative context for each year
• Includes a reference sheet and research questions

Cons

• None