Globalsport/Teacher Notes/Spaces Places

Rugby World Cup: Hosting a Global Sporting Event

Exploring the impact of a global sporting event.

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Rugby World Cup: Spaces and Places

This strand is integral to the rest of the project in that students will work in groups, add to their individual glossaries and maintain their portfolios. The intention of this strand is that we want the students to be able to think about the significance that a playing venue has in the community and the environment that it is located in. The learning is divided into three sections. In the first part, students will be asked to identify all the venues that are being used in the Rugby World Cup. Secondly, they will be set off on a journey as a group with their own tickets to a particular game at a nominated venue. They will be asked to investigate their destination as if they were actually attending the game. Thirdly they will be asked to present their findings to the class.

Time allocation

Time allocated to this strand is 7-8 hours of student time.

• Introductory activity and locating the stadiums should take 3 hours (including the finished poster)

• The journey to the nominated stadium and accumulating the findings should take 5 hours

• Presentation of their findings should take 20 minutes for each group. The time this takes for your class will vary on the number of students that you have.

Objectives

By the completion of the unit students will be able to: Define the difference between an arena, stadium and venue Identify the locations and names of the venues for games that are played in the Rugby World Cup Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between a nominated venue and the surrounding environment Present information about a nominated venue

Introductory activity - what's in a name?

This is a starter activity for the students to think about the different names that a large venue can be called and to get an appreciation of the size and design features they use to make them operational. For your interest the largest stadium is in North Korea and holds 120,000 people. You could discuss why a communist country needs such a large venue?

Objectives

Understand the difference between a stadium, an arena and a venue.

 

When we start to look at places where people gather to watch sport, we need to have a look at the different names that these places are called. Generally an arena is the term used to describe a place where people meet to watch a cultural activity - for example, a rock concert. The term stadium is generally used to describe a place where sport is played. A venue is a term used to describe any place where people gather for any reason for example, a wedding, social, conference or game. Usually arenas and stadiums are very large and the biggest one in the world holds 120,000 people. Could you find out where this stadium is? Let's look at some pictures of stadiums to become familiar with their design features that make it possible to hold large amounts of people at any one time.

• 

  Twickenham

• 

  Eden Park

• 

  Murrayfield

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  AMI Stadium

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  Millenium Stadium

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  Sydney Olympic Stadium

• MCG stadium.jpg

  MCG

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  Stadium Budapest

Activity

Identify 3 design features of a stadium Examine this photo and think about the following questions Westpac Stadium What is the name of the shape of the stadium? Why do you think it is shaped like this? Where do the players play? Why is this? Can you identify where people can enter or exit the stadium? Why is it important to know where your exits are?

Design features include:

• The shape is often oval or round so that everyone can see the players, but in stadiums built for sports like football or rugby the stands usually form a rectangle perimeter around the pitch
  
• The players are always play at the base of the stadium to allow people to see them easily
  
• The stadiums have slightly inward rounded tops - to prevent noise escaping (and to provide shelter)
  
• The exits are distributed evenly to allow for maximum people flow in and out of the stadium - this is to minimise accidents and increase the safety of the venue

Adaptation

This activity can be transfered as is to any other global sporting event that uses outdoor stadiums. To adapt the activity for an indoor sport, such as basketball, replace the image to a suitable shot of an indoor stadium.

Reflection

Lets think about what we know: Stadiums, arenas and venues are all names that describe a place where people gather to either watch sport, music or any other activity - for example a wedding, conference or school social. Stadiums are designed to allow all the people a view of the game, to prevent noise escaping into the neighbourhood and maximise safe movement in and out of the venue. Using the information you have thought about, try and complete the sentences below: If I was going to a music concert, I would probably be going to watch it in an arena The All Blacks play rugby most in a stadium Stadiums are 'round' or 'oval' shaped because it means that everyone can see the game Inward curved roofs on stadiums help prevent noise escaping outside A venue is a term used to describe place where people gather for an event e.g a wedding or rugby game.

Portfolio Activity

Glossary: create a new post in your portfolio titled 'Glossary'. Add the words venue, stadium and arena to the glossary and explain what they are in your own words. Reflection: make another post called: "Stadiums and their environments". Write in ONE thing you have learnt about how a stadium is designed to protect people or the surrounding environment. You may like to include some pictures to help with your explanation.

Location, Location, Location

The purpose of this activity is to let the students see the scope and range of venues throughout the country that will be used in this event. The activities are set up to allow for students to use electronic research methods or physical classroom resources. This resource is below - "Resource Pack One" - and contains all the stadium photos and names for the students to use as a source of information.

Objectives

Students will be able to: Identify the major venues where games are being played Link the venues to the towns/cities or regions

Activity

A Stadium treasure hunt Throughout the country there are 13 stadiums and 12 locations where the Rugby World Cup games are being played. Your group have been given the role of 'stadium hunters' and you have one hour to identify and find a picture of each of the stadium names and their locations. Helpful hints: Computer generated research: Use your researching skills on the internet Organise your group so that someone records the information as you find it. Start a new folder to put your pictures into. Classroom based research: Read the information that your teacher gives you Allocate jobs in your group to manage the photos, recording information and checking the results. Presenting your information Present your findings using one of the options below. Which ever one you choose, your presentation must include at least one named image of each stadium and a map showing the location. A wall poster, brochure or equivalent or An electronic format of your choice such as a Powerpoint, Keynote, podcast or slideshow

Adaptation

By changing the information in the first sentence this activity is easily adapted to any other global sporting event. All other information is relevant and transferable. For example, changing the first sentence to make it suitable to the 2012 London Olympics... Throughout the London Olympics there are 31 venues where events are taking place. Your group have been given the role of 'stadium hunters'... ...makes the activity usable in that context. Changing the links below to suit the new context will complete the adaptation.

Resources

Internet: Web Link: http://www.worldstadiums.com/ Internet: Web Link: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/pools/index.html Classroom: Resource Pack One: Venues and Locations

Reflection

Lets look at the displays and discuss the following The venues seem to be evenly distributed over the country - do you think this is planned? If so - what are the benefits? Some of the stadiums are much bigger than others - what will this mean for some of the games? What are some of the features that the stadiums all have in common?

Using reflection and discussion as a tool is a useful way to bring student knowledge into a public forum and consequently be shared by others.

1. Students should see from their displays that the venues are evenly distributed throughout the country and after discussion they should be led to realise that this is done for economic and social reasons: 1. It allows games to be played in the provinces and therefore be available for local populations to enjoy and feel apart of. 2. The economic benefits of having travelling teams and supporters move around the country means that the financial benefits of accomodating these teams will be shared throughout smaller communities and not just confined to larger cities.
2. The fact that some of the stadiums are bigger than others means that only the bigger ones will be able to hold games that go into the semi-finals and beyond. The capacity of the crowds will grow as the games move through the draws to the finals. The number of games being played at each stadium is related to their capacity and location.
3. Students may come up with their own ideas for this one and it is a good idea to get them to examine and compare their photos of each stadium, however, the most popular ones will be the shape, size, location (in more rural or industrial areas) etc.

Portfolio Activity

Glossary: Add to the glossary in your portfolio by explaining in your own words, the meaning of at least 5 new or interesting words you may have come across in this activity. For example - pollution, economics, capacity, population. Reflection: think of the learning you have been involved in during this activity. Write a new reflective post in your portfolio using the following headings as a guide. What?: What did you do? So What?: What did you learn? Now What?: Now what do you want to focus on?

Suggested words for the glossary: economy, province, population, capacity. However, it is good to encourage students to identify words they don't understand and encourage them to find meaning and put them into a context. Recording them in a Glossary is a way for them to build up a record of their learning. A suggested framework is also provided for students to reflect upon their learning. Other reflections you could encourage may include letting them relate their own location to the nearest venue, their personal interest in attending this event, the venue they thought was the most interesting or most important.

Our journey to the World Cup

This activity is designed to contextualise the World Cup for the students. It is set up to motivate the students by giving them tickets to one of the venues and asking them to plan a real/virtual trip that includes accomodation, an activity and a fact finding mission about the venue they will watch the game in. In their investigations, they should develop an awareness of the location that the venue is in and how environmentally aware of the surrounding area it is - which is the one aspect of this activity that I would enlarge upon in subsequent discussions as being one of the more important aspects of stadium design and location. Students are encouraged to choose the cheapest options when they are planning their trip, this will make it easier for them to make decisions. There is a prize on offer for the group that plans the cheapest trip - teacher discretion should prevail for this.

Your country is hosting an International Sporting event and your group has been given tickets and enough money to cover the costs of attending a game at one of the playing venues. Your group will be asked to design a trip to this venue that will involve some accomodation and travel options, one related activity to do in the location and some research into your nominated venues history and environment. There is a prize for the group that can find all the cheapest options.

Objectives

Discover how to choose transport and accomodation options when planning a trip Learn about the tourist activities available in a town other than your own Develop an understanding of the relationship between a venue and its surrounding environment

The following activity is designed to recap their knowledge of the venues they explored in "Location Location Location" and to inspire them to gain as many points as possible so that they can choose their venue for their trip. Depending on the age group, I would run this activity with 5 minutes of recap and reading, then with no information in front of them, let them work as a group to determine the answers. The 'no of games' column was put into the mix and match to make it a bit more difficult. Hint: the stadiums in the largest cities will host the most games. Once the results are in, then students will choose their venue depending on their results (most points = first choice and so forth).

Activity

Competition for the venue Your group now has the opportunity to compete for tickets for the Rugby World Cup in 2011. There is a mix and match quiz below. You will have 15 minutes to match the venue with the location and then try and match the 'no. of games that will be played' at each stadium as well. Complete this quiz on a separate piece of paper and hand it to the teacher with your group name at the top. The group with the highest number of right answers will be the first to choose which venue they will be going. Answers Below:

Adaptation

A mix and match quiz activity is easily adapted to other sporting events. Some examples are shown below: Uniform to team: Suitable for any sport including world cups, and Olympic or Commonwealth Games Flag to team: Event involving different nations including world cups, and Olympic or Commonwealth Games Language to team: Event involving different nations including world cups, and Olympic or Commonwealth Games Equipment to sport: Events where a range of different sports are being played including Olympic or Commonwealth Games Sport to venue: Events where a range of different sports are being played including Olympic or Commonwealth Games

The following activity is designed to allow the students the flexibility to design their own journed to a venue. The easiest way to source the information is via the internet, but if this is not an option, then travel books such as the 'Lonely Planet' series or AA Travel books also contain most of the information. On top of this, I would recommend that the Teacher collate information from the City Councils about the stadiums location and environmental consideration.

Activity

Planning the journey Now that you have completed the quiz and have been allocated a Venue as your destination, you will now need to complete the following steps: Decide how you will get to your venue - look at land travel and air travel options Decide where you could stay for one night - look at a camping ground or back packers and a Motel or Hotel Decide what activity you could do at your location - look at visiting a museum, mountain biking, horse riding, bungy jumping etc Find out about the history of your venue Find out about how your venue was designed to protect the surrounding environment from noise and excess traffic

Adaptation

This activity can be adapted to other sporting events and requires no changes.

Students will need help to organise this part of their activity. Helping them organise their group into specific roles will make the activity progress faster.

Resources

Students using the internet as a search tool. You should enter either the name of the location or the name of the Stadium you are visiting. Both of these will direct you either to the Town/City Website where all this information can be found or straight to the Stadium you are investigating. Students using classroom based resources. You can use the Lonely Planet Guides for New Zealand, or AA Travel Guides for New Zealand to source all your travel, accomodation and activity options. To find information out about your stadium you will need to either write to your respective venue, or use prepared resources compiled by your Teacher.

Reflection

Organising a trip can be exciting and time consuming depending on how well you worked together as a group and how easy it was to access the information you needed. In your groups, discuss the following: How easy was it to access our information? What would we do differently next time if we were planning a trip?

Portfolio Activity

Create a new post in your portfolio and compose a short reflection that summarises what you have learnt about planning and organising an overnight trip. Use the PMI (plus, minus & interesting) framework to guide your thoughts. Plus: all the positive elements of the activity Minus: all the negative elements of the issue Interesting: anything that is neither positive or negative

The sort of information that students may focus on is the availability of resources for them to complete this activity, as well as the difficulty in making choices concerning accommodation, activities and travel. The addition of a monetary cap on their planning should make it easier for them to make these decisions as a group.

Presenting the information

This activity is designed to allow the students to develop skills in organising information into a presentable format and the presentation itself. Ideally students will be able to explore a range of technologies to present their material and Google Earth is the recommended method for this activity. However, there are many more technologies available to choose from. Students using class based physical resources will use more traditional methods and/or could use standalone software as another option.

Once you have collected your data about your Venue, you will need to organise it into an easy to present format for the class to understand. Your presentation should take about 20 minutes for your group

Activity

Choosing a presentation method Students using an electronic presentation method can take this opportunity to learn about Google Earth Students using a physical display method can take some time planning how best to present their information using physical resources OR standalone software such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Movie Maker

Adaptation

This activity can be adapted to other sporting events and requires no changes.

Key points

Google Earth - useful information Choosing to use Google Earth to present your information will allow you the opportunity to create an entire trip from your beginning location to your Venue Destination. It is possible to build layers for your accomodation and activities and also to narrate the journey online. We recommend you familiarise yourselves with Google Earth using the Help and Tutorial facility.

Portfolio Activity

Create a new post in your portfolio. Insert a link to your Google Earth Journey, embed your PowerPoint or insert a photo of your display that your group presented to the class. Write a reflection for this activity using the following headings as a guide. What?: What did you do? So What?: What did you learn? Now What?: Now what do you want to focus on?

Evaluating our Journey

Discussion and reflection is an important part of this strand to allow students the opportunity to hear others thoughts and be able to voice their own. It will reinforce some of the knowledge that they have learnt and give them the opportunity to ask questions. Even thought some questions have been posed below, encouraging students to voice their own is a much more effective way of engaging them in this reflective process.

Reflection

Lets think about the things that we learnt in this strand and discuss them as a class. Firstly we started our Journey with some interesting information about Arenas, Stadiums and Venues. We then 'hunted down' all the venues being used in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup We then took a journey to a venue with our group and did a fact finding mission about the venues history, environment and # location. Finally we presented and shared our information with the class. Questions to think about and discuss. What was the most interesting piece of information we discovered when we explored the history of our stadiums? Environmentally aware city councils should go to great lengths to ensure their stadiums for the RWC are safe, secure and non-polluting - lets discuss what we found out about the stadiums we investigated and ask yourselves if these Venues are meeting the needs of their communities by being environmentally non-pollutting and safe? What were the skills we found the most difficult to learn when we presented our information back to the class?

Portfolio Activity

Compose a reflection for your portfolio that shows a range of the knowledge and skills that you have discovered in this strand. You might like to write this reflection in the format of a story using your journey as the outline.

An example of this final reflection would be that the students write a short story about their journey.