100,000 Kiwi kids count down to World Maths Day

With just a few days to go before the world’s biggest online education event, more than 100,000 students around New Zealand are training hard to in an effort to become New Zealand’s World Maths Day champions.

World Maths Day 2010 kicks off in New Zealand at 12am on Wednesday, and continues for as long as it’s 3 March somewhere in the world. With more than 4 million ‘mathletes’ expected to take part in this year’s event, participants are on track to set a world record for the largest online maths competition.

Students compete in real time to correctly answer mental arithmetic questions in quick-fire 60 second games. The focus is on speed and accuracy and students are matched according to their age and ability no matter where they live in the world.

World Maths Day is free and open to all school students. All they need is access to the internet and to register online by 1 March at www.worldmathsday.com.

Yvonne Blanch, Chief Executive of 3P Learning, the company who created and host the annual event, said, “This year we’re attempting to set a Guinness World Record™ for the Largest Online Maths Competition, and with over 3 million students from 227 countries already registered and practising online, we’re well on our way.

“In 2009, close to two million students from 204 countries correctly answered 452,681,681 questions during the event. We’re encouraging students and schools to sign up and start practising, help us beat last year’s record, and have some fun along the way”.

There are some exciting changes for this year’s event. There is a new format with multi-levels for all age groups and for the first time teachers, parents and other adults are invited to participate and test their maths skills. Participants can also take part in World Maths Day from their iPhone and iPod Touch.

New Zealand World Maths Day Ambassadors Campbell Benseman (8) from Wellesley College in Wellington and Pyong Her (12) from Glenavon School in Auckland have been working to spread the word and encourage everyone to get involved.

Pyong said, “I’ve been advertising World Maths Day at school and I’m really stoked that all my friends are so enthusiastic about the event. There are students practising on the site all around me!”

Prime Minister John Key has replied to a letter from 8-year-old Campbell with a message of support for the event.

“From counting and working out change at the dairy, right through to balancing the nation’s finances and calculating the orbits of the planets, maths is an important part of our lives. It’s great to see so many young Kiwis getting involved, learning about maths, and having fun.”

The top students in each age category will be invited to compete in live play-offs in the National Schools Challenge, held as part of the Planet 2010: Visit the Future conference at Auckland’s SkyCity on March 13 (www.planet2010.co.nz).

World Maths Day is run on 3P Learning’s unique game engine Live Mathletics, part of the Mathletics learning platform – www.mathletics.co.nz. Tens of thousands of New Zealand students use Mathletics each day at home and at school as part of their maths learning.

“We all know that being good at maths is critical for a child’s development and self esteem and Mathletics helps by making maths exciting and relevant,” said Yvonne.

“And during World Maths Day it’s wonderful to see the satisfaction students get from putting their skills on the line and seeing how their mental arithmetic improves. I’m really looking forward to New Zealand mathletes giving it their best shot on 3 March.”

About World Maths Day:
World Maths Day had a humble beginning in 2006 with a Trans-Tasman, Bledisloe Cup inspired clash between school kids in Australia and New Zealand. This was followed later that year by a mathematical Ashes competition between children in England and Australia. Finally in March 2007, the event went global and became World Maths Day. Today the event involves more than 200 countries.

Students participate in mental arithmetic games, playing against other students in real time using the World Maths Day online game engine. Each game lasts 60 seconds and involves arithmetic problems including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and minor equations. Whilst students and schools can participate whenever they like throughout the official 48 hour event, only 500 challenges (1 minute each) count towards their individual or class points score, Hall of Fame and Medal tallies. This allows all students the opportunity to compete for a medal regardless of other school commitments.

The questions are appropriately levelled for different ages and abilities. There are three age divisions within which students compete: 8 years and under, 9-13 years, and 14 years and over. Each age division experiences a different level of difficultly.

In 2009, a record number of students (1,952,879) from 204 countries correctly answered 452,681,681 questions. Kaya G, an 11 year old student from The Southport School on Queensland’s Gold Coast correctly answered 129,106 arithmetic questions in 48 hours, to take home the title of World Maths Day Champion for 2009.

More than 600 New Zealand schools have already registered for this year’s event, and for the first time, teachers, parents and the media will also be able to participate in World Maths Day.

World Maths Day 2011:
Next year in 2011, World Maths Day will be even bigger again, becoming part of The World Education Games. This will be a global education event where students and schools from schools around the world will unite to set a new world record for the number of questions correctly answered in maths, spelling and science. The World Education Games will take place on the first three Wednesdays in March and will include World Maths Day (2 March 2011), World Science Day (9 March 2011), and World Spelling Day (16 March 2011). Auckland has been chosen to host the 2011 World Education Games.

About 3P Learning:
3P Learning is the global leader in online mathematics learning for school-aged students with its flagship learning platform, Mathletics, used by more than two million students worldwide.

The Mathletics learning platform includes curriculum activities and tests aligned to the NZ Maths curriculum for years 1 to 13, formative assessment and diagnostic testing tools and also includes a game engine which allows students from around the globe to compete live against each other in answering mental arithmetic questions.

3P Learning’s mission with Mathletics is to engage every student every day with a personalised, responsive and intelligent learning resource that inspires a delight in maths and an innate drive to better results.

3P Learning is also the creator and host of World Maths Day, held on the first Wednesday in March. It is a free web-event where students from across the globe unite to answer mental arithmetic problems in a multi-player game environment. This has become the world’s largest education event with 1,952,897 students competing in 2009.

3P Learning has headquarters in Sydney, Australia, with offices in New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.