NEWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original Source: http://www.gulf-times.com, 28 February, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/6hw287c

 

 

Today, when students around the world are competing in an online game of mental arithmetic, Qatar Academy student Kathryn Rieb is leading the campaign in her role as a 2011 World Maths Day Student Ambassador.

 

 

The fifth-grader is the only student selected from Qatar and one of two in the Middle East to serve as the global face of the event, billed as the “world’s largest education event.” 
In recognition of her outstanding performance in Mathletics, Kathryn now has the distinctive role of leading the school’s participation in the contest and promoting the event around Doha.

 

 

 Qatar Academy’s Primary School maths co-ordinator Colette McWilliams explained that this year, World Maths Day is part of the World Education Games where students and schools from around the world are invited to unite and set a new world record for the number of questions correctly answered in maths, and spelling.

 

 

Qatar Academy is actively involved in the event through the Mathletics programme, an online maths skill-building resource where students work on and test their skills against other students of the same level anywhere in the world. 

 

The success of Mathletics in raising the numeracy skills of students resulted in the first World Maths Day in 2007 where more than 287,000 students from 98 countries answered 30mn questions correctly. 

 

The competition has grown exponentially since then and last year, a new Guinness World Record was set through the efforts of 2,403,526 students from 236 countries. 

 

A total of 479,732,613 questions were answered correctly which is set to grow bigger this year with the addition of Mathletics iPhone and iPad apps now available for download.

 

For Kathryn, this means rallying her schoolmates to continue practising their skills in Mathletics. 
In her World Maths Day blog entry, she shares, “I am excited about being the Ambassador for Qatar and so far I have been busy hanging posters around my school and talking to the classroom teachers and asking them to encourage their children to take part! So far all of them have said yes.”