How many athletes brought home no medal?


There must be a lot of Olympians who haven't brought home medals.  Probably most of the athletes that went to Tokyo didn't win a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal.  We couldn't find any numbers about these people.  Can you figure it out from what we could find?

In this activity students try to calculate data that hasn't been publshed by combining and sorting through information that is available in order to to draw a new conclusion.

Which data is important and which is not?

How many athletes have come home from the 2020/21 Summer Olympics empty-handed?

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How much will it cost this year to go back to school?

Back to school spending is huge and students might not appreciate what it costs to send them back to, essentially, their job of learning.  In this activity students decide what equipment and supplies are necessary, estimate how much that will all cost, confer with classmates to refine their lists, and then research to find out more accurately how much it will probably cost to send them back to school.  This activity could be used for students in upper elementary school all the way to high school.  It offers an opportunity for kids to estimate, research, reason, calculate and communicate with each other. 

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The new R-naught number

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There's a number used to quantify how fast a virus will spread, the R-naught number.  As the coronavirus spread though out the world, we saw how the threat of infection was measured and understood the mathematics of judging how a population would be affected.

Now we're plagued with the Delta variant of the coronavirus.  What was the original virus' R-naught number and what has it become?

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The drag in swimming – 5 Olympics activities

USA swimmer, Katie Ledecky

Compression swimwear

To win in Olympic swimming, contestants have to be incredibly fit and have marvelous endurance and technique.  Do they also need to consider the science of their motions and their equipment?

Could your swimsuit, swim cap and goggles be holding you back?

This activity is about drag and one method for calculating drag.  Students observe what increases or decreases drag and how each element of drag directly, directly squared, or inversely affects a swimmer's performance.

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Olympic Skateboarding + more

Huston Nyjah

We are very excited to see skateboarding as an event in the Tokyo Olympics.  Skateboarding is athletic, artistic and difficult to master.  Why has it taken so long to become an Olympic sport?  What events will you be able to watch?  How are skateboard runs and tricks judged? Is there a possibility of bias in the judging? ... and who is well-known that we should make sure to  watch?

The activity: Skateboarding.pdf

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