Mathematics Competitions Research Articles

The phenomenon of the gender gap among gifted students: the situation in Italy based on analysis of results in mathematics competitions

Abstract This paper deals with the gender gap phenomenon as displayed by Italian students participating in mathematical competitions—gifted students. In particular, the results obtained by the entire student population participating in district competitions from 2017 to 2020 were analysed. The combined analysis of the competition results and of the final questionnaire allowed us to highlight and deepen possible causes of the gender gap. It has been observed that girls underestimate themselves, sometimes giving up participating in competitions. Particularly, during the upper secondary school years, increasingly fewer girls choose to attend mathematical competitions. Analysing the results, although the percentage of correct answers between the two genders is fairly similar, the rate of girls who prefer not to answer to avoid mistakes is higher than that of boys.

Mathematical competitions in Africa: their prevalence and relevance to students and teachers.

Mathematical competitions feature in most developed countries as a part of the secondary school experience, but to a lesser extent in developing countries. In this paper we investigate how widespread these competitions are in Africa, both historically as well as currently, focussing both on national Olympiads and on the participation of African countries in competitions beyond their borders, such as the continent-wide Pan African Mathematical Olympiad and the global International Mathematical Olympiad. Since we could not find a consolidated source of information on African competitions, we include many details and links, hoping that this paper will serve as a valuable starting point for future investigators. Next, we present some survey findings on the attitudes towards and experiences of mathematical competitions, both from the perspective of teachers in secondary schools as well as from secondary school students, and whether these experiences have served to improve or degrade their perceptions of mathematics in general. Among other results, we find that teachers view their students’ participation in mathematics competitions as being important, with the biggest barrier to participation being that there are not enough competitions at appropriate levels available, and that students enjoy mathematics competitions and are more likely to pursue a STEM career because of them. Finally, we present some suggestions on how this research may be taken further, and on how the state of mathematical competition culture in Africa may be improved.

Mathematics competitions: an integral part of the educational process.

For a century and a half, the scene of mathematics competitions underwent a remarkable transformation from isolated and geographically scattered events to a full-scale and a full-featured vibrant global ecosystem comprising an impressive variety of competitions, school students, university students, teachers, mentors, scientists, schools, universities, research institutions, journals, websites, civil society organizations, educational authorities, parents, etc. The evolution, the current state, the functioning of this ecosystem as well as its role for the identification and development of talent, its impact on the educational process, and the institutions involved with it, is briefly reflected on. Some relatively new online competitions are presented that cultivate the use of dynamic geometry software systems for a deeper understanding of mathematical facts and phenomena, and for finding approximate numerical solutions to problems that are not part of a typical school curriculum, but often arise from real-life practice.

Writing and choosing problems for a popular high school mathematics competition

In this paper, we consider the issues involved in creating appropriate problems for a popular mathematics competition, and how such problems differ from problems typically encountered in a classroom. We discuss the differences and similarities in school curricula versus the generally agreed upon topics encountered in international competitions. The question of inspiration for the development of competition problems is dealt with from the standpoint of the problem author, while aspects related to the motivation of the contest participant, objective and subjective problem difficulty and mathematical precision in mathematics competitions are also discussed.

Why Olympiad: Investigating Motivations and Benefits of Coaching Elementary Science Olympiad

ABSTRACT Science Olympiad is a K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competition that engages approximately 7,000 teams across the U.S. in individual and team challenges at regional, state, and national levels. Science Olympiad began expanding to include elementary students in 2008. Yet, little is known about the adults who volunteer to coach elementary Science Olympiad teams or their coaching motivations. The purpose of this study was to investigate who coached elementary Science Olympiad teams, what motivated them to volunteer, and how their participation influenced their science teaching self-confidence, knowledge, and practices. This mixed-methods study investigated 125 Elementary Science Olympiad coaches’ beliefs in the southeastern U.S. Survey items were based on the Coach Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ). Open-response questions following the survey items were coded in two ways; inductively and based on a priori motivational codes. Participant coaches were most likely to be teachers (92%), female (85%), and White (85%). Survey findings indicate that coaches’ most significant motivating factors were intrinsic (M = 4.33/5); minor differences were based on gender, role, and length of time coaching. The qualitative responses supported the survey findings and gave more insight into teacher-coaches’ thinking. The coaching experience had many positive effects on the teachers, such as enhancing their science and pedagogical content knowledge in science and other subjects, strongly influencing their self-confidence, and increasing their use of hands-on science and STEM activities.

An Examination of Students’ Views about an International Math Contest

Nowadays, mathematics education providing challenging, interesting, interactive and technology-oriented learning experiences to students attracts attention both in research and practice. Among those experiences, competitions, due to their role of integrating the interest and desire of students to compete in education, challenging their potentials and facilitating their adaptation to daily life, are notable issues. In that sense, in the present study, it was aimed to explore the contest-related views of the students participating in a worldwide online mathematics competition and examine these experiences from the gifted education perspective. Based on this aim, 597 third to eleventh-grade students who took part in this international mathematics contest held in 2018-2019 educational year from 28 different countries constituted the participants of the study. Students’ ideas regarding their contest-related experiences were evaluated and then these ideas were examined on whether the contest serves the purpose of students needing extra materials/studies in mathematics, like gifted ones. Findings reflected that 15.7% of the students’ views about such an international, digital math contest are unfavorable while 63.5% of them are favorable as well as 20.8% of them indicate their suggestions. Many of the students mentioned that they liked the challenge in the contest, thanked and found it as fun or awesome. It was seen that the contest mostly serves the students who request and desire challenge in their tasks. It was also concluded that the contest can attain the goals of mathematically gifted students searching for extra services in mathematics by providing them challenging problem-solving tasks or game-based interactive math activities in such a different, worldwide platform.

Mathematics competitions in China: practice and influence

Mathematics competitions in China: practice and influence

The role and significance of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions in the International Mathematics Education Community

The role and significance of the World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions in the International Mathematics Education Community

Content Areas and Performance of Students in the Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad in Malawi

The Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad (OMMO) in Malawi is a national mathematics competition open to all final year secondary school students. In this paper, we analyse the results of the preliminary round of the competition from 2015 to 2020. We developed seven content areas for the OMMO based on core elements of the Malawi secondary school mathematics curriculum. We found that the OMMO is dominated by questions on the core element Number and numeration, particularly topics like number systems, indices and logarithms, linear equations and number patterns. We also analysed the general performance of students in these areas. We found that students performed well in topics like inequalities, trigonometry and mensuration and did very poorly on proportions, sets, coordinate geometry and geometric constructions, among other topics. These findings suggest that mathematics Olympiads can help diagnose areas that are difficult for students and hence enhance the teaching and learning of Mathematics, especially in Malawi and other countries with a similar mathematics curriculum. To take care of under-represented areas, future OMMO examinations need to be structured to adequately cover all the core elements.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF YOUNGER PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS COMPETITIONS DURING IHE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Mathematics competitions represent a very important segment of educational support to gifted students and play a significant role in identifying, motivating and working with those mathematically gifted. The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on all seg- ments of the educational process, including the implementation of mathematics classes, regular and additional, as well as the organization and implementation of mathematics competitions. In this paper we wanted to examine whether the changed conditions in which regular and ad- ditional mathematics classes were implemented had an impact on the achievement of the best- performing math students. The aim of the research is to examine the adoption of advanced level mathematical content that students should have acquired at school in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research sample consisted of 4,064 third-grade students (school year 2020/2021) and 3,824 fourth-grade students (school year 2021/2022). The research results indicate that students who should be able to solve advanced level tasks show insufficient practice in performing the four basic calculation operations, as well as insufficient adoption of different methods of solving advanced level tasks. By looking at the achievements of the same generation of students through two consecutive competition cycles, it can be seen that insufficiently adopted concepts in the third grade during the first year of the pandemic remained unexplained in the transition to a higher grade where they represent a problem for further advancement of students.

Possibilities of Preparing Pupils for Proof Problems of Synthetic Plane Geometry Solvable by Deductive Methods

Proof problems, especially the ones of the synthetic plane geometry solvable by deductive methods, play a significant role in mathematical education and due to their demanding principle also in the above-standard education including mathematical competitions. Therefore, the issue of preparing pupils for solving the proof problems is very important. This study aimed to find out if the contemporary state of the system of pupils’ preparation for synthetic plane geometry proof problems is sufficient enough for the mentioned purpose. From the full set of schools of the Czech Republic, there were 14 schools identified as the successful ones based on the results of the national round of the Mathematical Olympiad. These schools were asked questions about literature used for pupils’ preparation and the publications named in the answers were then deeply inspected. The results showed a narrow range of the literature used by the schools and the didactic-methodical inspection of stated literature detected considerable space for improvements which led the author to the main theme of his dissertation.

Success Formula of Mathletes

Mathematics competitions, together with the people and organizations engaged with them, form an immense and vibrant global network of today. This network has many roles. Competitions help identify students with higher abilities in Mathematics and motivate these students to develop their talents and to seek professional realization in science, thus gave positive impact on education and on educational institutions. The study aimed to find out the success formula of Grade VI mathletes in the Division of Antique, Philippines. Specifically, this sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of mathletes in terms of demographic characteristics such as sex, parents' highest educational attainment, socio-economic status and length of training in Mathematics competition. 2. What is the profile of mathletes in terms of school related factors such as length of Mathematics teacher's teaching experience, length of teacher's coaching experience, number of Mathematics trainings attended by the teacher, and type of school? 3. What is the profile of successful mathletes in terms of internal factors such as self-motivation and interest and innate mathematical ability, and external factors such as Mathematics teacher-coach's effectiveness, availability of instructional/review materials, purposive math training, parental moral support, peer support? 4. What is the performance of mathletes in Mathematics competitions? 5. Which of the demographic, internal and external ga are predictors of success in Mathematics competitions? 6. What is the success formula of successful mathletes?

When practice needs more research: the nature and nurture of mathematical giftedness.

The educational literature often includes debate over the nature and nurture of mathematical giftedness. The varied schools of thought reflect discrepancies between views, which are to a large extent functions of philosophical, political, and economic considerations. To address this debate, in the context of the current ZDM Special Issue, I attempt to analyze research and practices linked to mathematical giftedness in the Soviet Union in 1960–1980. I also look at the continuation of these Soviet-era practices, and to their influence on practices internationally. Particular attention is paid to the literature devoted to reaching a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of mathematical giftedness and of ways of nurturing this giftedness. The analysis starts with the discussion of domain-specific and domain-general characteristics of mathematical giftedness that have to be taken into account in educational environments for the mathematically gifted. It continues with a review of practices in special mathematical schools and classes in the Soviet Union, and a comparison to similar settings around the world in the twenty-first century. There is also an overview of enrichment mathematical activities, with a focus on mathematical circles, mathematical competitions and Olympiads, accompanied by a description of specificities of the mathematical content employed for the promotion of mathematical giftedness. Finally, the paper focuses on the question of what characterizes an excellent teacher of mathematically gifted students and on new educational technologies that are changing the education of these students worldwide. Following this analysis, I suggest some open questions for future research on the education of mathematically gifted students.

Mathematics competitions: what has changed in recent decades

Mathematics competitions: what has changed in recent decades

Report on the 49th Annual USA Mathematical Olympiad

The American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) program of the Mathematical Association of America consists of a series of examinations for middle school, high school, and college students, designed to...

Soma iterada de algarismos de um número racional

The digital roots S* (x), of a n positive integer is the digit 0 ≤ b ≤ 9 obtained through an iterative digit sum process, where each iteration is obtained from the previous result so that only the b digit remains. For example, the iterated sum of 999999 is 9 because 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 54 and 5 + 4 = 9. The sum of the digits of a positive integer, and even the digital roots, is a recurring subject in mathematical competitions and has been addressed in several papers, for example in Ghannam (2012), Ismirli (2014) or Lin (2016). Here we extend the application Sast to a positive rational number x with finite decimal representation. We highlight the following result: given a rational number x, with finite decimal representation, and the sum of its digits is 9, so when divided x by powers of 2, the number resulting also has the sum of its digits 9. Fact that also occurs when the x number is divided by powers of 5. Similar results were found when the x digit sum is 3 or 6.

ABOUT THE TRAINING METHODS FOR OLYMPIC STUDENTS IN MATHEMATICS

This paper aims to find the best training method for students who wish to obtain performance in mathematics. School, special curricula for the gifted and self-instruction are just some of the methods students choose in order to achieve excellence in mathematics. This research aims to outline a general method for efficient student training, also taking into account the anxiety generated by mathematical competitions (Mathematical Anxiety). The study is based on the author's ten years’ experience in coordinating advanced mathematics training programs for students in Braşov, Romania.

Triangles whose sides form an arithmetic progression

This article is motivated by, and is meant as a supplement to, the recent paper [1]. That paper proves three geometric characterisations of triangles whose sides are in arithmetic progression, or equivalently triangles in which one of the sides is the arithmetic mean of the other two. More precisely, it gives three geometric contexts in which such triangles appear. In this Article, we supply references for the results in [1] and we provide more proofs of these results. We also add more contexts in which such triangles appear, and we raise related issues for future work. We hope that this will be a source of problems for training for, and for including in, mathematical competitions.

Trends in Gender Disparities Among High-Achieving Students in Mathematics: An Analysis of the American Mathematics Competition (AMC)

Using the test scores of more than 2,250,000 students who participated in the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) from 2009 to 2019, this study examined the direction and magnitude of the trends in gender disparity in participation and high achievement in self-select mathematics exams. The results of this study indicated that the male to female ratio among the AMC participants increased significantly from 2009 to 2019. The findings also showed an established disparity that favored males for each year and for all competitions in both the top 1% and 5% levels, while the trend in the male to female ratios over a decade was stable, except for the top 1% of the population in the AMC 8, in which there was a significant increasing trend that favored males. The possible impacts of these findings within the context of the underrepresentation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields are discussed.

Problem-posing triggers or where do mathematics competition problems come from?

Spurred by Kilpatrick’s (1987) “Where do good problems come from?”, this study explores problem-posing triggers of experienced problem posers for mathematics competitions. Triggers are conceived as instances of noticing, where an impulse draws a poser’s attention and “triggers off” a mathematical re-action, one of the outcomes of which is a creation of a problem that gets accepted to some mathematics competition. The data were collected from 26 problem posers residing in nine countries, and who had experience in creating problems for national, regional, and international competitions. Three types of triggers emerged from the analysis: (i) Instances where the participants extracted mathematical phenomena from activities that are replete with modern elementary mathematics. These triggers were described in emotionally loaded terms that resonated with appreciation, surprise, challenge, and feeling of innovation. (ii) Cases where the participants abstracted mathematical phenomena from common everyday-life tasks in which mathematical optimization was beneficial. These situations emphasized participants’ desire to compensate for self-disappointment with an initially made decision and the value of finding a better alternative. (iii) Situations where the participants were asked to pose a problem ‘here and now’. The posers were unanimous in their dislike of such situations. They elaborated on how difficult it is to pose ‘here and now’ and highlighted the low quality of the resulting problems. The findings are situated in the body of knowledge on expert problem posing and educational literature on school students and teachers.