Aroostook schools getting global experience from biathlon
With a shared curriculum and winter’s urge to go outdoors, Aroostook County kids will be learning about the world through the World Cup of cross country skiing and sharpshooting.
In February, the Nordic Heritage Sport Club in Presque Isle will host the eighth round of the International Biathlon Union World Cup, the only U.S. stop of the international biathlon competition, and educators hope the event will be great change to learn.
Thanks to partnership of school districts, the Nordic Heritage club and Katahdin Trust Company, elementary schools are sharing digital curriculum using the IBU World Cup as lesson content on geography, culture, science, math and health — taking students on virtual tours of countries like Sweden, Austria, Slovenia and Italy, outside to ski and to the races in the hills of the Aroostook River Valley.
“We’ll try to adopt one or more athletes, and focus on their countries, their customers, their food, their languages, and try to learn as much as we can before we go the races,” said Robin Norsworthy, a fifth teacher at the Zippel Elementary School in Presque Isle whose class unveiled the initiative Wednesday. They’ll also look to learn about the stories of the athletes, and maybe have a chance to talk with them in-between the races, Norsworthy said.
The digital curriculum guide, sponsored by Katahdin Trust, is based in part on Biathlon-related content written by Karen Sanger, a biathlete and former teacher, in 2004, when the IBU came to Fort Kent. Elaine Hendrickson, a former Presque Isle Middle School teacher, helped adapt that content now as part of the Biathlon’s local volunteer network.
“As a former teacher, I feel that involving students in the biathlon is very beneficial to them, as well as to the athletes,” Hendrickson said. “It is one way that our County students can experience other cultures from around the world.”
