Fostering Interest in Mathematics through Maths Competitions
The start of this year brought Primary pupils and Secondary students ample opportunity to use problem-solving skills and out-of-the-box thinking to reach the best solution in a series of competitions, including the UK Mathematics Trust anniversary challenge, the COBIS Mangahigh Maths competition, the UK Junior Maths Challenge, Noetic Learning Maths Contest and the Secondary Intermediate UK Maths Challenge.
Maths competitions are a great opportunity for students to challenge themselves and advance in an increasingly important field in our technological and scientific age. Mathematical competitions have a rich history and have been organised in different forms, venues and for different types of student.
These competitions have been widely recognised as a potentially rich opportunity to attract Primary pupils and Secondary students by proposing unusual non-routine problems, thus creating more possibilities to be challenged in a way they need and like. They help develop imaginative capacity and thinking skills whose value transcends Mathematics and effectively nurtures mathematical talent.
Besides the benefits mentioned earlier, Maths competitions provide an excellent skill-building opportunity to help students enhance their time management and stress management skills and add to their extracurricular activities.
BSB acknowledges that Maths competitions offer an excellent opportunity to help highlight talent and provide a great sense of camaraderie as students collectively prepare to compete in a challenging, fun and structured environment.
One of the most important aspects of this type of competition is that they foster a students’ genuine interest in Mathematics through activities beyond the formal academic settings and let them test the knowledge and skills acquired through the Mathematics curriculum studied at BSB. Students develop essential computational and critical thinking skills that will be valuable throughout their lives, especially for students in Secondary who are interested in pursuing a career in STEM, and a firm grasp of Mathematics is necessary to realise their university and early career dreams. Maths is not only a core subject but also at BSB we recognise that Maths at IGCSE Level is vital for entry to some universities worldwide, irrespective of the chosen course. It is also a cross-curricular subject and finds its home within Physics, Mechanics, Engineering and Computer Science.
Good luck to all students in their study of Maths and their performance in the upcoming Maths challenges!
February 2022
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