Time Machine

Quest
Through The Olympic Games
A WebQuest for 5th Grade Language Arts
Designed by Tara Pritchett
tarapritchett@cox.net

Introduction
It’s time to get ready to enter a time machine! Have you ever participated in a
tethripppon or a stade race? Have you been in a dolichos? These were names of
some of the events in the first Olympic Games. Let’s discover how the Ancient Greeks
lived and what role the Olympic Games played in their culture. Then, continue towards
modern times when the Games were re-established with fierce competitions between
countries. Finally, you will move beyond present times to predict if the Games will
continue long into our future as they did in Ancient Greece? Hop on board and get
ready for a ride of a lifetime!

Task
You and your classmates are going to travel through time to explore the Olympics from
Ancient Greece through the future of the Modern Olympic Games. Each team of four
explorers will enter the time machine and be sent back. . .2700 years. . .200 years. . .60
years. . .20 years. . .1 year. . .and to the future. Virtually Speaking, Of Course!

You will be on a team of four explorers who will investigate the people, culture and
politics of the time to find out how they impacted Olympic Events. You will find answers
to the following questions as your travel through the time machine:

• When were the first Olympics?

• What role did they play in Greek society?
• Why were Modern Olympics initiated?
• How have the Olympics changed over the last hundred years?
• How have they fared through wars, boycotts and terrorist attacks?
• Are the Olympics about individual athletes or the countries they represent?
• Have awards the athletes receive changed through the history of the games?
• What is the difference between the events of the first games to the events
present day?
• Is there a future for the Olympic Games and what changes might we see over the
 next twenty years?
Your team will share your findings with your teacher and classmates. Your team's data
will become an important component in the final Olympic Timeline created by your
class. Your teacher will discuss with you what this will look like: A PowerPoint from
past to present, a visual timeline using Inspiration, An Olympic Timeline book created
with Microsoft Word, or any other creative presentation the classroom chooses.

Before you and your team of explorers can journey through time, the role of each
member must be established. It is important that you carry out your duties to allow for a
safe, productive journey. After all, your teammates are counting on you.

Role Responsibility

Maintain the Travel Log. Record web site addresses along

with data and information from the site. Remember to note
Recorder
the pages with graphics you may want to revisit during the
final project.

Contact person between teams, team, and teacher. Share

Communications and compare with the "C.O." from other teams.
Officer “C.O.” Communicate new findings with your team. Pass on to team
members any new directions, suggestions from teacher.

Flies the time machine - controls the mouse on the

computer. Be sure all team members are able to view the
Pilot
websites. When necessary, read and point out important
information for team members.

Provide direction for your team of explorers. When

necessary, remind the team of the direction they are to go
Navigator
and keep them on course. Make notes in the Travel Log of
sites to revisit.

Process:
Olympic Time Frame worksheets will be distributed to the teams by the teacher. These
time frames will provide small snippets of information to guide you in the correct
direction on the web to discover information needed to complete our timeline. You and
your team members will use the web sites provided on each time frame and any other
resources made available by the teacher to investigate your Olympic time frame. The
following are just a few of the sites listed throughout the time frames.
 • http://www.enchantedlearning.com/olympics/
• http://www.nostos.com/olympics/
• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/games/olympics.htm
• http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/sports/history-olympic-games
• http://www.olympic.org/en/content/Olympic-Games/
• http://www.vancouver2010.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games

Conclusion:
The Olympic Games of past and present have been a reflection of the beliefs, events,
values, and cultures of our time. By looking into the hopes, tragedies, heroes, victories,
memories and changes of the Games, we will gain a greater appreciation of the trends
and social systems that have shaped history and will influence our future of the Olympic
Games.

Evaluation
Evaluation will be based on four elements:

• Completed Travel Log:

Your Communications Officer will be maintaining a Travel Log. This log book will
include information about sites visited and data gathered. All team members will
be a part of the data gathering. The Log will also include questions by the team
that will provide direction for the team. The travel log must be neat and orderly in
order for full credit to be awarded. This travel log should be just like a yearbook
through your time in the time machine. Teams are encouraged to include as
many visuals as possible along with answers to required questions.

• Web Site Citations:

The Web Site Title and address should be noted in the Travel Log along with the
information gathered. Groups must log at least 10 websites in which data was
collected.Using the Internet as a resource can allow us to gather information from
a variety of sources as a group. It is important that we recognize and "cite" these
sources as we would an encyclopedia or other text.

• Final Presentation Award:

The final presentation will involve the class working together to create a "Journey
Through the Olympics" presentation based on what the teams discovered
through their quest. The class will work together to create a checklist of
requirements for this presentation and put together a visual computer generated
presentation. A panel of judges (ie: Principal, Vice Principal, Counselor,
Teachers, Other Staff) will award an appropriate “prize” to our class based on the
presentation. All fifth grade classes will be competing for the Gold Medal on their
presentation.
 • Cooperative Group Rubric:
You and your teammates will be evaluated as you progress through this
WebQuest to help guide you in your travels. You will be asked to determine how
well your group is working together by using the following Cooperative Group
Rubric.

Cooperative Group Rubric

Your Name ________________ Group Member's Name _______________
1
0 2 3
Needs Score
Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Excellent
Improvement
Collects a
Collects very Collects
Does not collect great deal
little some basic
any information of
Research information-- information--
that relates to information-
some relates most relates
the topic -all relates
to the topic to the topic
to the topic
Does not share Shares a
Shares very Shares some
Shares any information great deal
little basic
Information with group of
information information
members information
Performs all
Does not Performs
Fulfills Duties Performs very duties of
perform any nearly all
of Role little duties assigned
duties of role duties
roles
Always
Usually does does the
Always relys on Rarely does the assigned assigned
Shares
others to do the the assigned work--rarely work
Responsibilities
work work needs without
reminding being
reminded
Is always Listens but
Listens To Usually doing Listens and
talking--never sometimes
Other Group most of the speaks a
allows for talks too
Members talking fair amount
other's input much
Never
Usually argues
Cooperates with Sometimes Rarely argues with
with group
Group Members argues argues group
members
members
Total

Credits & References

• References of web sites, books, media and other mediums are noted/cited in
 each groups travel log.

• Images gathered for the final presentation were copied from Google Images
unless otherwise noted.

• Thank you to the judges for listening to the 5th grade presentations to award the
medals. Many thanks to the computer staff team who provided feedback,
direction and guidance throughout this journey. Resources in the library were
absolutely valuable as well in guiding the students to discover answers to
questions regarding the history of the Olympics.