Five Ways to Teach Students About the Olympics in Social Studies Class
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As a social studies teacher, you have an important duty to help your students understand how the past has shaped the present. Throughout the year, important holidays, events, and historically significant dates offer you a break from the stringent curriculum you must follow. One important event that happens every two years is the Olympic Games.
Here are five ways you can take a break from your routine and teach your students about this important event that started almost 3,000 years ago.
1. Create an Olympics timeline
First, create a document with the most important events in Olympic history. Then, print four or five copies depending on how many groups you want to create in class. Cut out the events out on each document and paper clip them together. At this point, you should have five piles — one pile for each group.
When class starts, have a warmer discussion about the Olympics. Ask the students what sports they like or where and when the Olympics began. Then tell the students they are going to work in groups to put the historical Olympic events in the current order. The group that puts the events in order correctly first, wins!
Feel free to recreate the document below:
2. Students create a storyboard for one Olympic event
Students choose their favorite Olympic event. They then do research on the history of that event and create a storyboard using pictures with captions under each picture. This project can be done individually or in groups of two. After everybody is done, students can present their storyboards to the class.
When students do research, encourage them not to use Wikipedia. While students are doing their research, walk around and ask students where they are finding their information. Ask them if they can trust the resource.
Here is an example of an empty storyboard you could create for this project:
3. Write a research paper about the origins of the Olympic Games
This project can start in the classroom then be finished at home. Spend the first part of class discussing Greek mythology and history. Talk about how mythology influenced ancient Greece and how festivals were celebrated in honor of gods. Then explain how the ancient Olympics was a celebration in honor of Zeus, the supreme god in Greek mythology.
Tell students they are going to write a research paper on the origins of the Olympic Games. Tell them they are going to do research using reliable resources, then they are going to write an expository essay on the history of the Olympics. Spend some time in class explaining that it is important to use reliable resources. Have students include a works cited showing where they found their information. This might be more difficult with younger students, but it will get the students understanding that they can’t just trust anything they see on the first page of Google. Show them a website like ThoughtCo where the authors cite their information which means the information is more reliable. Wikipedia should not be used for this project.
Students do some independent research during class with your guidance. If you can take them to the library, that is best! Then they write the paper for homework.
4. Olympic history trivia
Create a PowerPoint (or Google Slides) presentation about the history of the Olympics. Make sure you start from its mythological origins to the ancient Olympics (776 B.C. to 323 A.D.) to the modern Olympics (1896 to the present). Also create slides describing some of the ancient sports like the stade (192-meter foot race), diaulos (400-meter foot race), and the pentathlon (which consisted of a foot race, long jump, discus throw, javelin throw, and wrestling match). Then describe some of the more modern sports. Try to add some interesting facts (e.g., Roman emperor Nero participated in the Olympic chariot race and was declared the winner even though he fell off his chariot and almost died).
Instead of just lecturing, turn each slide into a discussion to get the students involved.
Then, play a trivia game. You could create a Jeopardy like game using a PowerPoint or you could simply ask the students questions and award points to the team that gets the question correct.
For an engaging Google Slides presentation and trivia game, check out this ready-made Google Slides: History of the Olympics.
5. Map and Flag Activity
This activity works best for younger students. Print out a blank map of the world and hand it out to all the students. If your students use devices, you can upload the blank map to your Learning Management System (LMS). Start the class by discussing the origins of the Olympics starting way back in 776 B.C. Spend some time discussing the different events (ancient and modern). Have a class discussion of the importance of the Olympics. Make sure you explain the difference between the ancient Olympics (776 B.C. to 323 A.D.) and the modern Olympics (1896 to the present).
Once the students have a basic understanding of the origins of the Olympics, hand out the blank world map. Students need to do research and find out where every Olympics has been held since 1896 (i.e., every modern Olympic Games). Students need to label the country on the map and draw the country’s flag next to the country.
