8170
/www/nrich/html/content/id/8170/
1
2012-06-01T00:00:00
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mdoxml version="1.0"><div class="col_layout">
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image alt="" src="start-1896-Olympic-100m.jpg" style="width: 271px; height: 162px;"></mdo:image></p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="text-align: left;">
<p>This is the start of the $100$ metres in $1896$. In that year Thomas Burke from the USA won the race in $12$ seconds.</p>
<p>I wonder how far you could run in $12$ seconds.</p>
<p>You and your friends could use a stop watch and then measure how far you ran.</p>
<p> </p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2">
<p style="text-align: left;">This is the finish of the $200$ metres in $1924$. Jackson Scholz from USA won that race in just over $21$ seconds.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I wonder if you could run the $100$ metres in that time?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Or you could see how far you could run in $22$ seconds.</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;"><mdo:image div="" src="RunFINISH%20sm.jpg"></mdo:image></div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image src="High%20Jump%20sm.jpg"></mdo:image></p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="text-align: left;">
<p>This is the high jump in $1906$. It shows Ray Ewry from the United States.</p>
<p>He jumped $1$ metre $56$ centimetres.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How high can you jump?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>See how high $1$ metre $56$ centimetres is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you find someone who can jump that high?</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2">
<p style="text-align: left;">This is the triple jump, which is a hop, step and a jump.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In $1906$ it was Peter O'Connor from Ireland who won a silver medal.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">He jumped about $15$ metres</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">What's your best hop, step and a jump?</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image src="LongJUmpSmall.jpg"></mdo:image></p>
<p> </p>
</div>
</div>
<pre>
<a href="http://nrich.maths.org/8170/note">Photograph acknowledgements
</a>
</pre>
<p> </p></mdoxml>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mdoxml version="1.0"><span class="editorial">Thank you Nicole, Sophie and Chris from St. John's School who obviously entered into the spirit of things and sent in their own results from this activity.</span><br></br>
<br></br>
Distance $4$m $75$ cm<br></br>
Nicole $4$ laps Total distance $12$m $31$ cm<br></br>
Sophie $7$ laps Total distance $23$ m $25$ cm<br></br>
Chris $7$ laps Total distance $23$ m $25$ cm</mdoxml>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<h2>Olympic Starters</h2>
<div class="col_layout">
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image alt="" src="start-1896-Olympic-100m.jpg" style="width: 271px; height: 162px;"></mdo:image></p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="text-align: left;">
<p>This is the start of the $100$ metres in $1896$. In that year Thomas Burke from the USA won the race in $12$ seconds.</p>
<p>I wonder how far you could run in $12$ seconds.</p>
<p>You and your friends could use a stop watch and then measure how far you ran.</p>
<p> </p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2">
<p style="text-align: left;">This is the finish of the $200$ metres in $1924$. Jackson Scholz from USA won that race in just over $21$ seconds.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I wonder if you could run the $100$ metres in that time?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Or you could see how far you could run in $22$ seconds.</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;"><mdo:image div="" src="RunFINISH%20sm.jpg"></mdo:image></div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image src="High%20Jump%20sm.jpg"></mdo:image></p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="text-align: left;">
<p>This is the high jump in $1906$. It shows Ray Ewry from the United States.</p>
<p>He jumped $1$ metre $56$ centimetres.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>How high can you jump?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>See how high $1$ metre $56$ centimetres is.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can you find someone who can jump that high?</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2">
<p style="text-align: left;">This is the triple jump, which is a hop, step and a jump.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In $1906$ it was Peter O'Connor from Ireland who won a silver medal.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">He jumped about $15$ metres</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">What's your best hop, step and a jump?</p>
</div>
<div class="grid_2" style="border:0;">
<p><mdo:image src="LongJUmpSmall.jpg"></mdo:image></p>
<p> </p>
</div>
</div>
<pre>
<a href="http://nrich.maths.org/8170/note">Photograph acknowledgements
</a>
</pre>
<p> </p>
</div>
<h3>Why do this activity?</h3>
<p><a href="https://nrich.maths.org/8170">This activity</a> looks at some historic Olympic results and asks children to think about whether they could do something similar. It introduces ideas about measuring time and distances in standard units.</p>
<h3>Possible approach</h3>
<p>Talk to the class about the Olympic Games and their history both in modern and ancient times. Talk about the ideas of winning and competition. Get them to try the tasks themselves and look at ways of collecting the information about what they do.</p>
<h3>Key questions</h3>
<p>How far do you think that is? What might you use to measure it?</p>
<p>How long is that time? What might you use to measure it?</p>
<p>Can you jump that far/run that fast?</p>
<h3>Possible extension</h3>
<p>Children could move on to timing each other as they do different tasks and create their own sports competitions deciding on rules for winning.</p>
<h3>Possible support</h3>
<p>Some children will need a lot of help to measure lengths and times accurately. Using them in a real context can help them to understand the meanings of the numbers on the tapes and on the clock.<br></br>
</p>
<pre>
Photograph acknowledgements
www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/07/14/1896olympics2_gallery__550x322.jpg
www.olympic.org.nz/sites/olympic/files/styles/grid-9/public/games/paris-1924-hero.jpg
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/07/olympic_countdown_10_days_huma.html
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/waterford/sport_cultural/medium/PeterOConnor_1.jpg
</pre></mdoxml>
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Olympic Starters
Look at some of the results from the Olympic Games in the past. How do you compare if you try some similar activities?
Applications
sport
Numbers and the Number System
Comparing and Ordering numbers
Measures and Mensuration
Length/distance
Admin
Upper primary mapping document