As long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the Olympics — gymnastics and figure skating are my can’t miss events, but honestly, if I tune into an Olympics broadcast of any sport, I’m mesmerized. With a new set of (COVID-impacted) games about to begin in Beijing, I’ve brought the Olympics into my STEM curriculum across multiple grade levels. Here’s a look at what I’m teaching!
2nd Grade | Robot (BeeBot) Winter Games
Each winter, whether it’s an Olympic year or not, my second graders participate in the Robot Winter Games. These activities help provide some thematic fun to my BeeBot robotics lessons for this age group.
| Day One: Opening Ceremonies | The first day of the Winter Games is a chance for students to refamiliarize themselves with BeeBots. We use them for some simple coding lessons in first grade, so most students have used them before, but I like to give them time to get refreshed before diving into our events. Tasks for the Opening Ceremonies include: Selecting a country flag and taping it to their BeeBot. Figuring out how to drive their BeeBot to the Winter Games Stadium. Programming their BeeBots to drive in a loop around the Stadium. Coordinating with other teams to create a multi-robot Parade of Nations. Completing any self-selected “training exercises” AKA exploring what their robots can do |
| Day Two: Robot Skiing | Our Winter Games events kick off with Robot Skiing! I set up several flagged ski courses of varying difficulties and share a video of downhill skiing with students so that they grasp the concept of staying within the flags. From there, students work to successfully program their BeeBot to navigate each ski course with a single code string. |
| Day Three: Bobsledding Bot & Ice Dancing | During day three, two events run simultaneously. In Bobsledding Bot, students work to create a pathway for their BeeBot to navigate down with slight slopes and turns. In the Ice Dancing event, teams work together to create a synchronized, dual-robot dance routine that makes use of the rink space. For more advanced teams, ice dancing can be a good opportunity to challenge them to create a mirrored synchronized routine, where the robots don’t do the exact set of steps, but instead operate as mirror images of each other. |
| Day Four: Bot Biathlon & Robot Hockey | The finale of our Winter Games features a favorite event – Bot Biathlon. In this task, robots are programmed to complete a ski loop and then to topple a tower of cups with accuracy. Any time robots are knocking over cups, it’s a hit! In our Robot Hockey event, students design and build a hockey stick that can be used by the robot to guide a puck into a goal. |
Psst…if you think these activities sound like a fit for your classroom, check out my Robot Winter Games product on TPT to make them come to life for your students. (While I use BeeBots for these activities, other programmable robots also work well. I’ve used Dash for these events with 3rd and 4th graders.)
3rd & 4th Grade | Sports Scratch Project
I teach a two-year, looping curriculum to my 3rd and 4th grade students. Depending on whether it’s a summer or winter Olympic year, this project can float from January/February to May/June. In the Olympic Sports Project, students practice applying concepts that we learn about coding to create a Scratch animation or game that teaches the user about a chosen Olympic sport. Here’s a look at how our work breaks down by class:
| Day 1: Scratch Free Exploration | I give a free exploration day to start off this project. For both 3rd and 4th graders, this is a chance to re-familiarize themselves with Scratch, which is a tool I introduce in 2nd grade. I use this time to help students log into their accounts and to get a sense of which coding concepts they may already understand and know how to implement. |
| Day 2: Sport Selection & Mini-Lesson on Sprites and Backgrounds | During day two, students select their sports from a list of Olympic sports. I allow them to choose either a winter or a summer sport – it’s always controversial that football isn’t an Olympic sport! Our mini-lesson for the day covers how to find and choose sprites and backgrounds in Scratch, as well as how to access the area where you can create your own. |
| Day 3: Mini-Lesson on Sequencing | During day three, students get a quick mini lesson on sequencing and how to organize code blocks in logical ways. They then work to apply logical sequences in their projects. |
| Day 4: Mini-Lesson on Loops | We cover loops on day four and learn about the different repeat blocks available in Scratch. Students then try to find a place in their projects where a loop might enhance or simplify their code. |
| Day 5: Mini-Lesson on Conditionals | Day five brings our last coding mini-lesson of the project – we cover conditionals and explore the if/then blocks in Scratch. Students look for a place where a conditional might fit into their project — my 4th graders will typically make the connection that conditionals and loops can work quite nicely together in Scratch. |
| Day 6: Check-In and Work Day | During day six, I check in with students to look for evidence of them applying some of the coding concepts that we have covered during our mini-lessons. Students also double-check that they haven’t lost sight of the project goal — teaching someone about their sport. |
| Day 7: Polish/share | On our final work day, students work to put finishing touches on their projects. We then take the last half of class to share our projects. |
5th & 6th Grade: Olympic Village Design Project
For my 5th and 6th grade Olympic project, students are tasked with considering where all of the world-class athletes stay while they’re in a foreign country for several weeks. Their mission is to use a digital design tool to create a prototype for an Olympic Village. This project lets my students get their feet wet in SketchUp, which can be a tricky program to get the hang of, but that offers rich opportunities for digital architecture design. This year, I’ve supplemented the work in SketchUp with an option (at student request!) to use FloorPlanner for the interior design aspects of the project.
After a class period to explore both SketchUp and FloorPlanner, students work in pairs or trios to put together their pitch for an Olympic Village design, which must include digital design prototypes of the following elements:
- Exterior of the building(s), including landscaping elements [Completed in SketchUp]
- Athlete apartments [Completed in FloorPlanner or SketchUp]
- Lobby/Entryway/Gathering Space [Completed in FloorPlanner or SketchUp]
From these base requirements, students often run with the project and create designs for cafeterias, gyms, laundry facilities, team meeting spaces, etc. Students are also challenged to further enhance their designs by including elements consistent with the architectural style of the host nation.
During our last day of work (typically 5 days for this project), students share their pitch slides with one another and highlight key aspects of their designs. Engagement has been especially high on this project this year – I’ve had many students working on this outside of STEM class!
Are you doing any Olympic-themed activities in your classroom? If so, I’d love to hear what you’re doing!