Great digital learning resources on the London Olympics and the science of sport

Maths and Sport:  Countdown to the Olympics

Explore maths and science through the London 2012 Olympic and paralympic Games.  Activities arranged by learning level, plus a searchable sport index with interactives, Olympic measurements and current records.

Get in the Zone

experiments, kits and games supporting discovery and participation in sport. Download teacher and student resources, plus links to pe-related sites.  Similar pages for ages 11 to 19:

english for the games

Literacy-focused Olympic activities. Lesson plans incorporating language skills, plus great pDF and Word-illustrated guides to many sports ready for student annotation.

Top end sports

Sport, fitness and nutrition information covering all aspects of sports science, plus online journals, training, major sporting event links and sport clip art.

Better health channel image library

View 3D rotatable images of key components of physiology including respiratory, digestive, heart and circulatory, brain and nervous systems.

The Biggest Collection of Olympic Resources for Teachers and Students

With only one day until the London 2012 Olympics teachers and students are trawling the web for quality teaching resources about the games.

The Official London 2012 site has an amazing collection of resources for all age groups and learners and should be a stopping point for everyone over the next 2 weeks looking for Olympic ideas.

Check it out here.

Olympic Learning Countdown, Olympic Maths Video Lesson

This video lesson shows how Year 4 children go out into the play ground to try out Olympic Maths They measure and record long jumps, high jumps and target practice using a beanbag. They then turn their data into Venn diagrams and graphs for analysis to find their Olympic Maths Champions. At the same time they use digital cameras to record their efforts both in stills and in video footage. These can then be reviewed on the whiteboard.

You can use this video in three ways. If you like it and it fits your pupils then why not try the actual lesson: there is a lesson plan and other materials below. You could adapt it for your subject and age group or you might find it jogs you into trying something entirely different.

Olympic Learning Countdown: Olympic Quizzes for Students

With less than a week to go until the greatest show on earth in London, you might want to see what you kids know about Olympic facts, stats and history. 

I have found a few student based quizzes and trivia that you might want to do with your kids to get them in the Olympic spirit.

Funtrivia has a massive collection of different Olympic Trivia challenges.  There is something here for everyone.

Kidzworld has a great 10 question multiple choice quiz with pictures that you could do on your interactive white board.  It's pretty basic but would still challenge most elementary / primary students.

Ken's Quiz site has a great collection of different Olympic quizzes.  Many of them are visual in design looking at different flags for example.

For the diehards ther is the official London 2012 site with a multitude of quizzes for kids through to geniuses.  The great thing about this is that all the resources are very high quality and ready to go at the drop of a hat.

Olympic Learning Countdown: Olympic Crafts

with 30 Days to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games it might be time to get crafty with you kids.  Activity Village has a gold medal collection of creative ideas for you students to lead up to the world biggest sporting event including making your own Olympic rings, Flags, Wreaths and even Olympic Torches.  Be sure to check them out here.

Olympic Learning Countdown: Olympics & Science

With 31 days until the lighting of the Olympic Torch in London, I am officially starting the Olympic Learning Countdown and am aiming to have 1 new Olympic resource each day to share with you.

Today's comes from succeeding with Science and uses a number of interactive tasks to link science and sports. 

Students will enjoy learning about the science of creating the ultimate running shoes and also the physical reactions that occur when athletes compete at the highest level in the world.

Please be sure to check out succeeding with Science here, and if you have any suggestions for Olympic resources please be sure to send them through.

Maths & Sport: Countdown to the games

'Maths and Sport: Countdown to the Games' is an exciting new project from the award-winning Millennium Mathematics Project at the University of Cambridge.

To celebrate London 2012 they're developing free online mathematical resources exploring maths and science through the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Resources are divided into two types of content - activities for students aged 5 to 18 (UK Key Stages 1 through to 5 - most including teachers' notes) and articles aimed at older students and the interested general reader.

You can find our articles and activities, arranged by Key Stage, using the tabs at the top of the page, or view content by sport or topic. We'll continue to publish new content throughout the run-up to the 2012 Games.

In addition to our free online resources, we've also developed a Maths of Sport Roadshow which can visit your school for a hands-on maths event.

To receive advance notice of events and alerts about new resources, sign up for our email newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Get Set for London 2012: Teaching Ideas

Get Set is the official London 2012 Olympics Education site.  It is very comprehensive and contains a range of activities and resources to get students involved and enthused about the upcoming London 2012 Games.

You can search for ideas by year level or teaching area.  A great starting point for London 2012 in the classroom.

Implications for Teaching

We really should try to get our kids enthused about the Olympics as it really embodies the sense of trying to achieve a personal best, dealing with success and failure and finally it encourageses health and wellbeing.