Grade 5 - Questioning

Winter Olympics — Which Country Would Be The Best Host?

Our focus in this lesson is on questioning – What smaller questions do you need to answer in order to answer the BIG question?

Questioning

In February 2006, the Winter Olympics will be held in Torino, Italy. In 2010 they will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. Which country would be the best choice to host the Winter Olympics in 2014: Chile, China or Sweden?

Planning

Before you begin your research, we need to plan!

• Look over the resources that have been selected for you.
• What do you already know about the Winter Olympics?
• What do you already know about these countries?
• What questions will you need to answer about the Winter Olympics before you can answer the big question?
• What questions will you need to answer about each country before you can answer the big question?

Gathering

As you gather information to answer the small questions that you generated, continue to revise your questions. Are you able to find answers to all of your questions? Do you need to add more questions?

Winter Olympics Events - read a short description of each event in the Winter Olympics.

International Olympic Committee - click on the sports in the Winter Olympics to read a short description of each sport.

Olympic Games - Enchanted Learning - this site has information on the history of the Olympics, Olympic symbols, and a list of countries that have hosted the Olympics in past years.

Torino, Italy - Learn about the city of Torino, Italy, where the 2006 Winter Olympics will be held. Click on the picture links at the bottom of the page to see a slide show about the facilities that will be used for each sporting event. Also, look for a link to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held.

CultureGrams - Click on a continent, then on a country. Learn about the Geography and Climate, popular games and sports, and other facts about each country.

Sifting/Sorting

Synthesizing

Share what you have learned with your classmates. Talk about the answers to all of your small questions before you try to answer your big question.

Evaluating

Which small questions are especially helpful as you tried to answer the BIG question?

Reporting

Notes

In working through this mini-research project, I found that many students wanted to answer the big question before they had even begun planning or gathering. It’s a great opportunity for revising questions as they go along, and sharing some surprising answers to the small questions that they generated.

Look for opportunities to come back together as a group and share – share small questions before gathering, share revised questions and answers before synthesizing, etc. This mini research project took two 45-minute time periods to complete for groups of 5 th graders.

Examples of some important small questions include: What are the sports in the Winter Olympics? What is the climate in each country? Does the country have ski areas? What kind of public transportation is available in each country?