Introduction
This WebQuest is targeted for middle school students and will incorporate results from the alpine skiing events at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Students will use the official Sochi Olympic Website to collect information. That information will be used so students can:
- collect data
- create a graph of the medals by country (those winning medals in alpine skiing).
- calculate mean, median, and mode to compare sets of data
- make predictions and inferences based on the data collected
Students will see how math is used in the Olympics and make connections to concepts they are learning in the classroom.
Task
Research alpine skiing events from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. You will collect data, create a graph, analyze data, find measures of central tendency and use the data to make inferences and predictions.
Process
Qualifying Round: Collect Data
Use the Official Sochi Olympic Website (linked below). Find the results for the following events: Men's & Women's Downhill, Men's & Women's Super G, Men's & Women's Super Combined, Men's & Women's GS, and Men's & Women's Slalom. Complete the provided data collection worksheet.
2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Official Website
Quarter Finals: Graphing
Using the data collect in Qualifying Round, select an appropriate graph to display your findings. Be sure to include a title, data labels, and key on your graph along with other important information. Materials will be provided in class. Keep in mind the more organized, colorful and clean/neat your graph the easier it is for the person viewing it to read and understand.
Semi Finals:
Again using the data collected from Qualifying Round, find the mean, median, and mode for each of the 10 races. Then answer the following questions:
- In what race was the range greatest from gold to bronze? What was the range?
- In what race was the range least from gold to bronze? What was the range?
If you need assistance or a reminder with Mean, Median, Mode and Range go to khanacademy
Finals:
Using the information gathered through this webquest, make 10 predictions for the next Olympics. Could be 1 for each event but no more than 3 predictions for any race.
Evaluation
Each "round" is worth 5 points. Points will be determined on requirments for each "round", organization, completness, accuracy and neatness.
Conclusion
During the class activities and the Winter Olympic Completion Webquestion you've discovered just a few ways math is used in the Winter Olympics. A few math concepts we've discussed: graphing, mean, sum, difference, convertion of kilometers per hour to miles per hour, converting kilometers to meters and calculating rate, given distance and time.
Credits
Create Webquest
Khanacademy
2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Website
Patrick Specht (Kellogg, ID)