A ten-year old North Shore City pupil won the top position in his age group at the 2011 World Maths Day held on March 1.
Mason F of Sherwood Primary School (based in Browns Bay) was the Champion in the Years 8 to 10 Category in the global competition in which 5.3 million students from 218 countries had registered for participation.
But the actual number of participants on the first day of the contest was only 2.4 million students from 234 countries.
The online competition, held on March 1 & 2, accounted for an impressive 428.60 million correct answers in the 60-second challenges over a period of 48 hours.
New Zealand children did better than many others from around the world.
Among them were Evan M from Stanley Bay School (Davenport, North Shore City), placed fifth in the Years 4-7 group, Edwin from St Josephs School (Pukekohe) placed third and Willem E from the Remarkables Primary School (Queenstown) placed sixth in the in the Years 8–10 category.
Two students (brothers) from the remote Pitt Island, where computers are powered through diesel generators, were placed 25th and 45th in the Years 4-7 category.
Mason said he started playing Mathletics (a next generation learning process) five years ago.
“I had always struggled with Mathematics, and despite the help of many tutors, did not register any notable improvement. Now maths is no problem at all; in fact, it is my favourite subject,” he said.
Australia based ‘3P Learning’ hosts the annual competition, in which students play at home or school against other students around the world in life games of mental arithmetic. They can play up to 100 games, each of 60 seconds duration and earn points for their tally. There are five levels of play, each of which comprises 20 games.
Yvonne Blanch, Chief Executive of 3 P Learning New Zealand said the New Zealand children played extremely well, despite the trauma of the Earthquake in Christchurch just a week earlier.
“New Zealand finished a very creditable 5th equal with Hong Kong in the medal tally with Malaysia rating first, followed by UK, Pakistan and Australia.
“UNICEF was involved with the World Maths Day for the first time, to raise funds for its activities. To date, more than $1.3 million have been collected,” she said.
‘World Spelling Day,’ another online challenge, followed this year’s event.
Ms Blanch said both events were philanthropic.
