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Local students competing in worldwide math event

Mind-boggling numbers add up to fun and apply lessons on a grand scale

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By Jill Kelley, Staff Writer 10:37 AM Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The numbers are staggering; then again, it is World Math Day.

Today, March 3, more than 2.5 million students from 40,000 schools in more than 200 countries are feverishly solving math problems online.

The students, ages 5 to 18, are competing against each other and working together to beat the record set last year during the event, when they solved 452,681,681 problems.

The participants are working to get into the Guiness Book of World Records to be part of the largest online math competition in the world.

And some of the students involved live right here in the Miami Valley.

Stephanie Snurr is one of the many teachers who just recently learned about the event, which began in 2007. Snurr signed up her fifth- through eighth-grade math students, who attend St. Anthony School in Dayton.

“I thought it would be a fun way to get students more interested in math,” she said, adding that she liked the fact that “all around the world, students will be participating online at the same time.”

Two of her students, eighth-graders Katie Schultz and Rachel Craighead, share her excitement.

“It sounds really fun, kind of like meeting kids from all over the world,” said Katie, 14.

Rachel, 13, said she hopes to compete against kids from Japan, since she is interested in the country and its culture.

“I’ll try to answer a million myself!” she said.

Sue DeLon’s fifth-graders at Dennis West Elementary School in Springboro competed last year.

“My kids absolutely loved it,” DeLon said. “I don’t know if it was the whole online experience, the ability to create their own avatar or just playing kids from all over, but they said we had to do this again.”

DeLon said it was interesting, too, that the kids noticed that some other countries were better in math speed and accuracy.

“It really forced them to think more globally,” she said.

Some teachers are taking advantage of the international aspect of the event to teach subjects in addition to math.

“After computer lab, we come back to class and look at the world map to identify the countries we just played against,” said Ashley Deters, whose fifth-graders at Germantown Elementary School practiced on the World Math Day site last week.

“Additionally, we have been able to discuss time zones, economic opportunity and freedom of access to the Internet as we found out what countries we were and were not playing against.”

Lynne Ray’s business management program at Tri Star Career Compact, a vocational school that serves nine school districts north of Dayton, also has been studying the countries involved.

Ray also noted the allure of the competition.

“If kids have downtime, they gravitate toward video games,” Ray said, adding that this helps channel the desire to play games into another way to learn.

Junior Chris Ballard, 17, a student of Ray’s from Minster, said the games can be fun and addicting.

“I was kind of fascinated. The first three games I played were against people from Malaysia,” Ballard said. “I was kind of shocked about how you could play anybody from anywhere.”

Brian Boyd, principal of Dayton Regional STEM school, said another aspect that might draw in older students is the ability to play via iPhone and iPod Touch applications.

“I’m going to be playing around with those myself,” Boyd said.

Some classes will be playing for a portion of their class days, and some have taken the opportunity to devote the whole day to math.

MaryEllen Sage’s third-graders at Oakview Elementary School in Kettering are using the World Math Day concept to spend today playing math games like Blokus and Exago, having a team word problem competition and competing in a Connect 4 tournament, in addition to taking part in World Math Day.

But regardless of how the students participate, it is likely they will have fun and learn a great deal.

Peter Walters is the CEO of 3P Learning, the company that created the World Math Day event.

“We’ve been able to see a 30 percent improvement overall in the students’ scores in the last three years,” he said.

In addition to the area schools mentioned, Baker Middle School in Fairborn, Englewood Elementary School, St. Charles School in Kettering, the Ponitz Career Technology Center in Dayton, St. Helen School in Dayton, Bishop Leibold School in Miamisburg, St. Peter School in Huber Heights and Van Buren Middle School in Kettering are among those taking part in World Math Day.

For those who want to join the fun next year, the event will be March 2. Also, in 2011 the event will expand into the World Education Games, where students will have a day to compete in science and another day for spelling as well.

For more information, visit www.worldmathsday.com.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.

How World Math Day works

First off, the official title is World Maths Day, which is in line with how the word “mathematics” is abbreviated internationally. The American translation is World Math Day.

Students, parents and classes registered at the Web site (www.worldmathsday.com). The deadline was March 1. They created their own avatars — kind of like creating a Mii in Wii — to represent themselves in the competition.

The event begins as soon as it is March 3 anywhere in the world, which was at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Dayton time. It ends when March 3 ends everywhere, which is 6 a.m. Thursday here.

Participants play against others around the world in live games of arithmetic on the Web site.

Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 500 games, earning points for each correct answer.

The students who answer the most questions appear in the Hall of Fame. Students cannot select their level but will move up as they progress.

Prizes will be awarded to the top students in each age category, ages 5-8, 9-13 and 14-18.

The prizes include gold medals and certificates. All students who participate will receive a digital certificate.

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