mathletics 2006

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Saturday, 28 January 2006

A success story from the start

by Gordana Nikolic, P.Eng.
One aim of Scarborough Chapter is to raise public awareness of the creative role engineering plays in linking education with real life by promoting public awareness of the engineering profession in our community. In connecting with our community, we encourage professional engineers to participate in the Chapter and PEO activities and we recognize individuals and firms for their support of our profession.
On 28th January 2006 we debuted a mathematics competition called “Mathletics”.  This event was organized to promote awareness of an engineering education as a career choice among junior students, as well as team building, while having fun.
We planned to start our pilot event with a small group of schools with up to 24 school teams of five to six students. Schools enthusiastically supported us by registering over 30 teams for the competition.

Event highlights

Mathletics is an enrichment competition designed to challenge students in the subject of mathematics and to promote middle school mathematics achievements through everyday engineering principles.  The questions were intended to be designed around mathematics principles, which are a necessary knowledge foundation for the practice of engineering. They were intended to make the student think about the way that actual work problems are solved. Questions were presented to each team to test their math and problem solving skills and their ability to reason under time constraints.
Students were engaged in the collaborative activities that allowed them to understand the importance of teamwork. The first pilot Mathletics was held on Saturday, 28th January 2006 at the Scarborough Civic Centre, Council Chambers.

Round One

Round 1 was a team competition based upon a written multiple-choice examination paper. It consisted of 50 multiple choice questions on a variety of mathematical subjects with an allocated time of 60 minutes.
Each team was assigned one verifier. The examination paper and the answer sheet was collected by the verifier and submitted to the judges at the end of the examination period. The verifier also recorded each team’s completion time.
Two points were awarded for each correct answer.  The teams with the top 10 scores proceeded to the Round 2 of the competition.

Round Two

Round 2 was a team competition with points awarded to the team that presented the correct answer first.
Ten mathematical problems on a variety of mathematical subjects were presented, one problem at a time projected onto an overhead screen. All ten teams worked on the same problem at the same time.
Once a question was presented, the participants worked with their fellow teammates. When a team had selected their final answer, the team captain indicated to the judges that they were ready to respond. It is important that teams “demonstrate their work” and be able to present clearly how they arrived at a particular answer rather than simply guessing at the answer. The first team that had the correct answer was awarded one point.
The second round ended with two pairs of tied teams.

Overtime

At the end of the second round we did not have a clear wining team. Additional questions were given to the finalists.
Additional mathematical problems were given, of increased difficulty, to the tied teams, using the same competition format, to break the tie.
At the end the three teams with the most number of points were awarded the First, Second and Third prizes accordingly.

Mathletics competition challenge

The second round evaluation of team responses were performed manually. To make the Mathletics’s second round more exciting, we are in the process a custom designing scoring electronic devise for the future competitions. Our Scarborough chapter member Madu designed the devise and he is in the process of making it using wires, lamps and other electronics material.

The process of displaying competition questions and answers and certificate printing were handled at stations equipped with notebook computers. Two large projection screens provided the audience with a live view of the competition questions and a digital display of the time remaining for individual questions and in the complete round.

Volunteers

Amazing work was done by volunteers from our Scarborough chapter and from outside our chapter. Some of them had to travel quite distance to come and to help us. Thanks!
Our volunteers learn valuable practical skills which help career progression. In this way we enhance the professional development, competency, and social responsibility of professional engineers.

Event feedback

One of the teachers, Ms. Virginia Luong, teacher at Seneca Hill P.S. said:

Here are some of the students’ thoughts:

Top three teams were given awards. Full colour certificates were personalized with the student’s name and school’s name. Three winning teams holding certificates