Elementary and High School students participate in global mathematics assessment

By Felipe Lima

For another year, Beacon participated in the Kangaroo Math Olympiad, an international competition for students from the 3rd grade of elementary school to high school. The annual competition, which originated in France, encourages students to expand their mathematical knowledge and counts on the participation of more than 6 million students in over 80 countries. 

According to Marcela Visnadi, Math area leader at the institution and a post-graduate in Didactics for Implementation of the BNCC by the Singularidades Institute, the single-phase test allows students to have another perception of what the subject can be. 

“The test focuses on logical resolution and it’s nice that students see this approach to the subject. In addition, we are talking about an international test. The whole world takes the same test, obviously in their own time and their language, and thus we have the same performance parameter”, comments the teacher. 

Marcela points out that the school seeks to work on the subject in an individualized way, which goes beyond the operation and leads the students to find their solutions to problems. Additionally, those students who show an above-average performance are encouraged to improve their knowledge with more challenging activities. 

Students with the highest scores in the Kangaroo Math Olympiad enrich their resumes and are awarded medals. “Beacon has always had students who won many medals, but we try not to focus on the physical award, but on the experience and the possibility for the student to take risks and look for new opportunities,” says Marcela. 

Besides the Kangaroo Math Olympiad, Beacon has also applied to the Brazilian Public Schools Math Olympiad (OBMEP), which accepts the participation of private schools. The first phase of the competition is scheduled for June 7, and the second phase for October 8. The exam also awards the students with scientific initiation scholarships.