World Math Day inspires students, increases skills

Intermountain Catholic

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Seventh grade students concentrate as they rapidly answer math questions on their grade level and compete against students from various countries throughout the world. Each student who competes will receive a certificate. 3P Learning offered the third competition, sponsored by Voyager, Unicef, the Cartoon Network, and Dolphin. The first was in 2007.

BOUNTIFUL — St. Olaf Elementary and Middle School students competed for 48 hours during World Math Day March 3-5.

The competition began March 3, at 4 a.m. Utah time, which was midnight March 4 in Australia. Students from St. Olaf started competing at 4 a.m. It was a 48-hour, one-day competition because as the sun rotated, it was March 4 somewhere in the world. As long as it was March 4 somewhere, the competition could go on.

The St. Olaf first through eighth grade students answered 160,360 questions correctly during the competition, and competed against students in 135 countries. They answered 212,620 math questions during their two-week practice session, and answered a total of 372,980 math problems correctly throughout the entire experience.

Francis McDonald, the seventh grade teacher, and middle school math and history teacher said the St. Olaf students improved 136.8 percent by being involved in the competition. All the students were excited and enthusiastic about math.

"There were four different levels on which the students competed," said McDonald. "The students competed on their own grade levels. For example, first grade did simple math problems such as 3 plus 5. But it was their rapid responses that counted. The people who were placed at the top were those who completed the most correct answers in one minute. If they got three answers wrong within the allotted 60 seconds, they timed-out, and had to wait a full minute before they could compete again."

McDonald said the students were awed by some of the students who got as many as 97 answers correct in one minute. Some St. Olaf students scored in the high sixties, or just over one answer per second.

Throughout the competition you could hear, "Lebanon," "Jordan," "Thailand," "Cuba," "Bangladesh," and other countries as they contacted students in those countries.

McDonald saw the competition on the Utah Education Network. He entered all of the names of the students participating in the competition and their passwords in order for them to qualify.

"Our students have been so excited about math, and about competing," said Catherine Moore, St. Olaf fifth-grade teacher. They all had their own avatar (face) they could decorate with which to identify themselves."

"We have been practicing all 15 days 3P Learning, the company offering the competition, provided the problems for practice," said McDonald. "3P Learning is a company located in Australia. What is nice about this program is that it also involves geography and keyboarding using the number pad. The students loved the competition and the bars racing across the top of the screen."

"It was real good reinforcement of math skills," said McDonald."