"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, the important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these precepts is to build up a stronger and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity." De Coubertin

The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) will be hosting the Academy One 1996 TeleOlympics on May 8-15, 1996. It is open to school-age children worldwide (ages 6-18) with the ability to send/receive Internet electronic mail. The TeleOlympics is a project where students go out into their schoolyards on the same day and "compete" in events involving running, jumping, and throwing. Results are then sent electronically to Academy One. Special rules have been established for wheelchair students.

A listserve is available for those schools with e-mail ability who can not or do not wish to participate via newsgroups on an NPTN Affiliate system. This listserve is called acad-olympic and begins on March 1, 1996. Details are included below.

DETAILS ON THE TELEOLYMPICS

Group Classifications:

• Class A = ages 15-18
• Class B = ages 12-14
• Class C = ages 9-11
• Class D = ages 6-8

List of Events:

• 50 m run
• tennis ball throw
• long jump (choose either standing or running for your school)
• 400 m run (for all ages)
• 800 m run (for Class A and B)
• 1600 m run (for Class A participants only)

Educational Activities:

1. Opening and Closing Activities - E-mail exchange and live online chat. On the Opening Day, each participating school should send a letter to all of the other participating schools, wishing them good luck. Those schools with telnet access can log onto the NPTN machine and do an online chat known as IRC. On the Closing Day, letters of congratulations should be sent to all other participating schools and an online chat will ensue. These letters can include additional information and questions as desired, and potentially lead to establishing permanent keypal relationships with these other schools.

2. In the time prior to the TeleOlympics, schools are encouraged to post reports on the progress of training of their athletes, weather conditions, or other information of interest. Possibilities include stories of the Ancient Olympics, word searches in any language with the subject being the Olympics, or interviews and stories of athletes from their community who have participated in the Olympics. Individual athletes are also invited to share their training programs and results.

3. Participating schools may also begin to contact each other and exchange private e-mail as the registrations are posted. Regular updates of who is involved will be mailed to those participants who have only e-mail contact with Academy One. The listserv is another way to keep in touch but keep in mind that the amount of traffic could get quite large.

4. The top three winners in each of the events and in each of the boys and girls age classifications can have their names, school identifications, national flags and a short biographical sketch posted. Teachers will be responsible for supplying the biographical sketches of all winners. It is advised that these biographies be one of the educational activities that each student prepares in case they are a winner. They can also be used to exchange with students in other countries.

ADDITIONAL CURRICULUM INTEGRATION IDEAS:

For those teachers who might wish to integrate several areas of the curriculum into the TeleOlympics theme, the following are a few suggested activities:

English

• Students are encouraged to write about their own athletic endeavors or hopes.
• Students are encouraged to write a story... "If I were an Olympic athlete..." and post to Student Author newsgroup.
• Students are encouraged to interview a former Olympian or a current athlete in training.
• Any student attending a major athletic competition is invited to act as an NPTN Student News Reporter and post an article as an independent news reporter to the NPTN Student News area of Academy One.

Math

• Practice in the metric system
• Averaging the scores for the entire class in a given event.
• Comparison of scores for each 100 meters of the 400 meter run if known.
• Comparison of pre-test and post-test scores in the TeleOlympian Training Program.
• Computation of Training Heart Rate Range.
• The pre-test and post-test scores of students from various schools and countries can be analyzed.

Social Studies

• Students are encouraged to learn about the communities of other schools in foreign countries. Some of this information is available from reading the registration forms. Students are encouraged to write to several schools to gain additional information.
• Students are encouraged to interview their parents and grandparents regarding their athletic endeavors. Comparisons between today's equipment, rules, training methods and reasons for competition and those of former times will be of interest to many.

History

• Students in each country are encouraged to share information about the history of the Olympics and about famous Olympians or athletes from their town.

Health

• The recipe exchange can be printed and made into a cookbook for students to try new recipes.
• The suggested long-term training program might increase the health of some students.
• The pre-test and post-test scores of students from various schools and countries can be analyzed.

Science

• The anatomy and physiology of physical fitness can be studied.

How to join the listserv:

Send email to: listserv@nptn.org
Body of the message needs to read:

subscribe acad-olympic
set acad-olympic mail ack

The second line of the message is to tell the listserve to send you a copy of your own message, thus giving you the security that all on the list have received it.

To unsubscribe from the listserv:

Send email to listserv@nptn.org
Body of the message needs to read:

unsubscribe acad-olympic

To send a message to all subscribers on the listserve: