KAUST Hosts Kangaroo Math Competition for Thuwal Students

Over 190 Grade 1 to Grade 12 Thuwal students competed for the first time in the annual Kangaroo Math Competition on 23 March, 2019.  Saudi Arabia has participated in the global competition for students aged 7-18 since 2017, and KAUST was pleased to become an official test center this year, enabling local students to take part. 

The Math Competition originated in Australia in the 1980s and, after being taken up in France in the 1990s, was named the Kangaroo Math Competition to honor its Australian origin.  The competition has spread across the world to more than 70 countries, with national organizers in each country – in Saudi Arabia the administration and delivery is overseen by the Mawhiba Foundation, (The King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for the Gifted and Creativity).  Every year, representatives from each country convene in the autumn to set the questions for the following year. These are then translated into their respective languages and the questions adapted to be relevant (for example, for the Saudi Arabia competition, changing the name Joseph to Youssef). 

KAUST invited math teachers from schools in Thuwal and Qadimah to attend two preparatory sessions with experienced trainers from Mawhiba.  The test is given in six different age categories, and comprise 24 questions for students up to Grade 4 and 30 questions for other students, delivered in a multiple choice format.  Each question is designed to test various aspects of the students’ math abilities, with the key competence tested being logical combination, not just knowledge of formulae.

Gregor Dolinar, professor of Mathematics at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia explains why the Mathematical Kangaroo is different to other global math competitions, such as the International Mathematical Olympiad¹, “The Kangaroo contest is not just for the best mathematically talented students. Instead it aims to attract as many students as possible, with the purpose of showing them that mathematics can be interesting, useful and even fun. Though, sadly, it has generally become accepted that mathematics is difficult, … not approachable by the vast majority of people, the number of contestants in the Mathematical Kangaroo proves that this need not be the case. With more than six million competitors, … and with a very high proportion of the student population solving the problems, … the Kangaroo contest helps to eradicate such prejudice towards mathematics.” 

Although this is an international competition, with each country using the same questions, abiding by the same rules and taking the test at the same time, the results are not compared between the participating countries.  The tests are collected and evaluated by the national organizers of the competition.  For more information on Math Kangaroo in Saudi Arabia see www.kangarooksa.com; or for the global overview, see http://www.aksf.org/.

    

Part of the Young Learners' Development Program - read the Program Overview here.

March 31, 2019