Susan O'Rourke | January 10, 2022
As we approach the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, many educators and students are looking forward to watching athletes from around the globe compete. UNC World View recognizes that this international event provides an excellent opportunity for educators to incorporate globally-focused lessons across disciplines. The resources below offer insight into a variety of topics that can be discussed in your classroom, from the history of the games to the biology and physics behind athletic performance. The New York Times guide to Teaching the Winter Olympics Across the Curriculum also recommends the following avenues for discussion:
- Sports Writing (studying form, language)
- Global Politics
- Design and Fashion (including history, nationalism)
- Geography
- Physics
- Argument Writing and Discussion
For advanced discussions of and writing assignments on the Olympics and Paralympics, consider the following selected prompts from Dr. Stephen P. Andon of FIU:
- How is [the host nation’s] culture represented during the Olympics? What kinds of associations or themes are prevalent in the way… media covers the Olympics?
- How is the impact on the environment calculated and discussed during the coverage of the Olympic Games?
- What sports fill the most airtime in the media coverage of the Olympics? Which sports are left out? Why? Are certain sports more prevalent on certain networks or at certain times? Certain countries?
- How is the activity of protest and social activism treated by both the Olympics generally, in addition to the traditional broadcast and social media coverage of the Olympics?
- How are identities – national, racial, class, gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality – demonstrated, described, and performed?
We hope you’ll join us in cheering on the athletes and supporting students’ intellectual growth as we watch and study the Olympics and Paralympics!
RESOURCES
Introduction to the Olympics and Paralympics
- Video: Introduction to the Paralympic Movement (I’mPossible: The Official Education Program of the Paralympic Movement)
- Video: A Brief History of the Winter Olympics (Wall Street Journal)
- Olympic Values Education Program (IOC)
- Video: The Paralympic Values (I’mPossible: The Official Education Program of the Paralympic Movement)
2022 Beijing Mascots and Torches
- Bing Dwen Dwen (冰墩墩), Olympics Mascot, and Torch (Beijing 2022 Overview)
- Shuey Rhon Rhon (雪容融), Paralympics Mascot, and Torch (Beijing 2022 Paralympics)
Arts and Culture at the Olympics and Paralympics
- Olympic Art Visions
- Olympism Made Visible (Photography Project)
- Olympic Art Posters
- Fashion
- Videos: Fashion Behind the Games (Olympics)
- Video: Beijing Embroidery—History and Inclusion in the 2022 Olympics (Beijing 2022)
- Get Dressed for the World’s Largest Party: Olympic Uniforms through the Ages (Patricia Reymond, Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage)
- Fashion and Current Events
STEM and the Winter Olympics
- Videos: The Science of the Olympic Winter Games (NSF and NBC Learn)
- Aerial Physics: Aerial Skiing (angular momentum, torque, moment of inertia, contact twisting)
- Mathletes (motion, instantaneous velocities, arithmetic, and calculus)
- Blade Runners of Short Track Speed Skating (Newton’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Laws)
- Olympic Motion (cell movement, muscle contractions, muscle memory, muscle fibers and motors)
- The Internal Athlete of Cross-Country Skiing (ATP, muscle contractions, energy conversions, and aerobic capacity)
- The Science of Skis (fiberglass composites, torsional rigidity, and polymers)
- The Science of Skates (friction, heat, meltwater, and gliding)
- Video: How a Carbon Fibre Running Blade is Made
- Understanding the Science of Para Ice Hockey (Carleton University)
- Wheelchair Curling: Research Underway at University of Waterloo (Curling Canada 2015) with updates found in Engineering Innovation for Wheelchair Curlers (University of Waterloo 2019)
- It Took Carbon Fiber—and Spy Work—to Get Paralympic Skiers Better Gear (Popular Science)
- Innovative Protheses Positively Change the Paralympics (World Intellectual Property Organization)
- Articles from The Physics Teacher (AAPT)
Videos Introducing Paralympic Sports
- Sitting Volleyball (I’mPossible: The Official Education Program of the Paralympic Movement)
- Goalball (I’mPossible: The Official Education Program of the Paralympic Movement)
Additional Academic Resources
- Syllabus: Olympics and Society (Dr. Stephen P. Andon, FIU)