DOHA: Qatar Academy’s (QA) recent participation in World Maths Day 2011 was a resounding success generating almost half a million correctly answered questions.

“World Maths Day was a success because every class from kindergarten to grade 5 took part. It gave our students a chance to see how their math skills ranked against students around the world,” said Primary Math Coordinator Colette McWilliams.

Grade 5E teacher Avril Bray believes that honing the students’ math skills through Mathletics – an online learning platform where children practice their arithmetic skills – prepared the students well.

“Students in my class are expected to receive at least one certificate per week so the nature of engaging in friendly competition with other students from any part of the world is not new to them,” said Bray.

An enlarged world map with flags around it was posted in one of the primary school pods where students marked the countries they played against. From Japan and Australia in the Pacific to neighbouring countries of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and from Canada and Brazil in north and south America to the European countries of Ireland and Portugal, students actively participated with a common goal of ‘uniting the world through numbers’.

Dr Greg Hedger, Qatar Academy’s director, joined the students in classes and encouraged them as they answered one question after another. Teachers across all levels and parents lent valuable support throughout the day.

Some classes also worked with their buddy classes on games. These classes paired older students with younger students in order to help them play.

Kindergarten teacher Kerri Swain said: “My class participated with their grade 3 buddy class. Both classes worked together toward a greater math understanding, with the older children helping the younger. Not only were they learning together but they were having fun also.”

The school’s top performer is Umar Ibrahim from Grade 5A. He correctly answered a total of 17,617 questions which made him the leading scorer for the second year in a row. In one 60-second game alone, he managed to answer 72 questions correctly or more than one correct answer per second.

“It was a great day at Qatar Academy and our World Maths Day Ambassador Kathryn Rieb did an amazing job of making sure everyone in the school and the wider community in Qatar knew all about the event, “McWilliams ends.

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