Children taking place in Math Kangaroo 2013

The Math Kangaroo jumps right into U of T Mississauga!

Mariya Boyko

On Sunday, March 24th over 350 students of all grade levels took part in the Math Kangaroo international contest that was housed in the Instructional Building at University of Toronto Mississauga.  Excitement and anticipation were in the air from the moment the first students and parents entered the auditorium where they waited patiently for the start of the contest.  At 10:30 a.m. the students were lead to their designated rooms in order to start the competition sharply at 11 a.m. The contest invigilators were especially impressed by the excellent self-conduct and listening skills of the younger students.  The training sessions held at U of T Mississauga on March 2nd and 16th allowed the students to familiarize themselves with the rules of the contest, the content of the questions and the schedule of the competition day.  While the students were competing for the National and Regional Math Kangaroo Awards, the parents listened to a thought-provoking lecture, about the role of mathematics in our lives and opportunities for further learning, by Dr. Maria Wesslen.  After the competition was over, the contestants were given a certificate of participation and an intellectually stimulating puzzle toy to take home. You should have seen the happy faces of the grade 1 students when they were leaving the contest room!

Grade 3-4 Students
Grade 3-4 students holding certificates after the contest

Math Kangaroo is an international contest with over 5,000,000 students from over 40 countries competing every year. The goal of the competition is to inspire the students to take mathematical challenges and to present mathematics in a positive and fun way. The contest consists of 30 multiple choice questions and lasts 60 minutes (for grades 1 – 6) to 75 minutes (for grades 7 – 12).  The students do not have the luxury of guessing because each wrong answer is penalized with negative points.

U of T Mississauga has been hosting the competition for a number of academic years and each year an improvement in terms of participation, organization and setup of the contest has been seen. This year the parents of the students in grades one, two, three and four were particularly satisfied with the distinct drop-off and pick-up locations. “The rooms are easy to find and I am not worried about losing my children in the crowd now. Last year, when all the students were brought back to the same room after the competition, my sons felt scared and I was not able to locate them right away. But this year they felt safe”, said a mother of two contestants, aged 8 and 10.  Many parents who overheard her comment agreed.  

Special thanks go to Ms. Yvette Ye, who is the Math Outreach Coordinator as well as the undergraduate counsellor in the U of T Mississauga Mathematics and Computational Sciences Department, and to Dr. Maria Wesslen, who runs the Math Circles program for mathematically gifted high school students and teaches various courses in mathematics to the U of T Mississauga undergrads!