The department is involved in projects involving middle school students. Last year Zsuzsanna Szaniszlo and I supervised the grading of solutions for the Abacus International Math Challenge.
The ABACUS International Math Challenge was launched in 1997 by Tivadar Diveki, head of Grace Church School’s science department. Grace Church School is a private grade school in New York City. The Abacus program is based on a printed journal for gifted students, originating in Hungary over 100 years ago. Participants over the years included Edward Teller, Leo Szilard and other notables in physics, computer science and mathematics. Today’s Abacus is designed for students of all abilities and demonstrates that mathematical talent can be stimulated and developed through individual attention, instant feedback and challenging subject matter with flexible levels of difficulty.
The Internet has made this program available to students around the world. Every month, eight problems are posted for each of three age groups. Students are asked not only to solve the problems but also to present the reasoning in their solutions. If a student submits an incorrect solution or is simply having trouble with a problem, a grader will offer hints as to how to go about solving the problem, giving students multiple chances to succeed.
The 13th Annual Abacus International Math Challenge runs from September through April. I will be supervising the grading of the solutions for grades 5-8 this year. The graders will be undergraduate students Adam Shull, Robert Thompson, Brit Wagoner, and Rebecca Pietrzak. If your child is in grades 3-8 and looking for a mathematical challenge, go online to http://www.gcschool.org/program/abacus/index.aspx
Last spring the department hosted Mathcounts. This is a national competition for middle school students. Several middle schools from the region come together at Valparaiso University. The winning team and the top individuals move on to the state competition. Student and faculty volunteers help to administer and grade the competition. There are individual and team written problems and a “Jeopardy” style oral competition also. I was able to do my Alex Trebek imitation by hosting this part of the competition.