Reflections: Volume 24, No. 4 November, 1999

MANSW

The Mathematical Association of New South Wales, Inc.
Promoting Quality Mathematics Education for all.

Reflections: November, 1999

Contents Volume 24, No. 4

EDITORIAL

HISTORY OF THE OLYMPICS AND THE TORCH RELAY

Sydney 2000 - Games of the 27th Olympiad and XI Paralympiad, Paul White
1996 Olympics: Medal Tally, Robert Yen
Comparing Olympic city climates, Korin Gibson
Torch relay coordinates and torch relay distances, Leanne Garth
The Olympic Torch, Beth Southwell
Additional torch facts

GOING TO THE 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES

Sydney 2000 Olympic events, dates and ticket price range
Sydney 2000 Olympic events and venues
The price of the games - Number 1, Nicole Smith
The price of the games - Number 2, Evie Apfelbaum
Calculating distances, Evie Apfelbaum
Calculating times, Evie Apfelbaum
'Coordinate' ~ ing Olympic Park, Nicole Smith
Big numbers and the Olympics, Evie Apfelbaum
More on the stadium ... , Evie Apfelbaum
My Olympic Experience, Katherine Garth
'131 500, how can I help you?', Trudie Robertson
Time Zones, Leanne Garth
The Olympic holiday maths investigation, Peter Hughes
Preparing a timetable for the opening ceremony, Kelly Mercer

OLYMPIC EVENTS

Aquatics

The men's 400 m freestyle, Ed Lewis
Hitting the wall!, Jim Grant --
Twisting and turning, Jim Grant
Diving into maths, Elaine Elliott
Let's find out!, Jim Grant
Paralympic swimmers, Jim Grant

Archery

Archery, Beth Southwell

Athletics

Marathon (42 km race), Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester
Marathon maths, Peter Merrick
Energy for running, Doreen Forrest
Time, speed, distance discovery, Katherine Garth
Olympic and World records, Katherine Garth
Olympic Games - Some track and field records, Conference participants, MANSW 1999

Basketball

Basketball, Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester

Equestrian

Showjumping, Evie Apfelbaum

Football

Football (Soccer), Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester

Hockey

Hockey, Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester

Rowing

Rowing 2000, Doreen Forrest

Softball

Investigating softball, Doreen Forrest
Comparing ball bounce, Doreen Forrest
Measuring up, Doreen Forrest

Tennis

Tennis, Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester

Triathlon

Triathlon, Mark Mikulandra and Leanne Sylvester

Weightlifting

Weightlifting, Carol Mason

WERE THE PREDICTIONS CORRECT?, Judy Anderson

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Australia's Olympic medal tally, 1896 to 1996
1996 (Atlanta, USA) Olympic Games - Some results
World Records for Marathon (men)
World Record for Marathon (women)
References and internet sites
Answers to some activities and further suggestions

Editorial

Using the upcoming Sydney Olympic Games as a focus in mathematics lessons provides teachers with a unique opportunity to motivate students, reinforce the relevance of mathematics in their daily lives, and incorporate students' interests into their learning experiences. This combined issue of Reflections and Square One aims to support teachers' efforts in this regard by presenting potential teaching ideas for Years 5 to 8 in a readily useable format.

This volume is structured into four sections. The first includes information about the history of the Olympic games and the torch relay. The second involves specific information about the 2000 Olympic games to be held in Sydney, including purchasing tickets, planning a trip to the games, and information about Stadium Australia. The third presents activities involving many Olympic events, as well as an activity on the outcome of the Sydney games. The fourth includes additional information for teachers to develop their own worksheets, useful references and intemet sites to explore with students, and answers to some activities, along with further teaching suggestions.

The activities and worksheets in this issue were prepared by classroom teachers, mathematics education lecturers, and final year trainee teachers. A meeting of interested writers was held after authors were sought through advertisements in MANSW primary and secondary newsletters. This led to the writing and trialling of many of the activities. It was not possible to include activities on all of the Olympic events but we have endeavoured to provide teaching ideas on a broad range, including the Paralympics.

This set of materials is not meant to be a unit of work to be used with one particular class in the order presented. Rather, we anticipate that teachers will use the ideas to create their own teaching unit, or adapt the worksheets to suit their teaching and learning program. It is recommended that teachers work through activities before presenting them to their students. In this way, the suggested questions and activities could be adapted to meet the needs of individual students.

This material has been developed with the support of SOCOG who approved the use of the Olympic imagery. We would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Susan Crawford, Manager of the SOCOG National Education Program.

The photographs used on the cover, as well as inside this issue, were taken during several visits to the site by Judy Anderson.

Judy Anderson, Beth Southwell and Allan White