CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than 100 students from four Kanawha Valley counties flexed their math skills on Tuesday with a chance to show the skills off on a state level.
The University of Charleston hosted students Boone, Clay, Kanawha and Putnam counties in the Regional Math Field Day competition where winners were crowned after being tested on all areas of the brain.
The event began at 8:00 a.m.with a welcome in the Geary Auditorium in Riggleman Hall followed by competitors going to classrooms for multiple forms of testing.
Each county sent three students per grade in fourth through ninth grade and a high school team of 10 students, representing grades 10-12, to compete. Those at the grade school level started with a multiple-choice written exam followed by a physical estimation test.
Lori James, an Assistant Math Professor at UC, told 580-WCHS that in the physical exam, the students might have seen a string that is coiled up and they have 10 seconds or so to guess how long the string is in a certain unit. Further in the test, there might have been something where they guess the weight of something or guess how many things are in a certain jar, she said.
Further along in the testing for all levels, students participated in a relay team competition among counties. Students had tp answer a question, pass the answer along and the next student fits the answer into a problem.
Jennifer Hoffman, the Program Director for Mathematics at UC, said math helps develop critical thinking skills.
“That’s one of the biggest things that I always tell my students,” she told 580-WCHS.
“They ask ‘where am I going to use this?’ and I’ll tell them ‘you’re not necessarily going to use every single item I am teaching you at the supermarket’ but it’s going to teach someone to think critically, problem solve and work through those types on concepts.”
High school teams participated in the team questions for each county but also answered written exam graded by UC professors.
10 students from the high school level and three from each grade level in fourth through ninth advanced to the state competition.
“Professor Hoffman and I were both involved in Math Field Day as students and it was just a fun event for us,” James said. “We like to promote math knowledge, we like to promote critical thinking skills and math skills in general.”