San Andrea Senior School’s Mathematics Department recently organised the seventh edition of its yearly Mathematical Olympiad, a competition aimed at promoting teamwork and healthy competition while practising problem-solving skills and other strategies.

While all students from Grade 8 to Grade 11 took part in the competition, the questions and level of difficulty varied from one grade to another. The students were divided into groups of four or five according to their house colour.

The competition consisted of two different sections for each grade. The first section required the students to work as a team within their group and each group was given a paper with a set of questions, which they had to work out in 20 minutes.

For the second section, each group had to choose one field of mathematics, such as algebra, geometry, fractions and number theory, on which they wanted the question to be based. When the chosen question was projected on screen, all the participating students were given enough time to discuss as a team and come up with the correct answer. Different questions carried a different amount of points.

For the first time, in this year’s edition, the department made use of polling devices during the Olympiad of the Grade 8 students. This system involved the use of wireless interactive keypads, which enabled the students to answer the questions in a more professional, transparent and organised way.

The questions presented to the students were multiple-choice questions, and through the use of the devices, each team had to input their answer by pressing the correct button on their device.

Besides motivating the students even more, the tool ensured that all the teams answered all the questions. Moreover, this was an effective way integrating Maths with ICT.

The winners will be announced in the annual school trophy presentation ceremony in June.

The event was organised by the school’s Maths teachers coordinated by Godfrey Spiteri.