Graham’s Hall student wins Primary Schools’ Math Quiz

May 20, 2019

― Dave Chowtie wins with 50 points

― students overall math performance improved since the launching of the competition

― competition tested students’ knowledge, algorithmic, and reasoning skills

By Onika Bobb

DPI, Guyana, Monday, May 20, 2019

Mathematics is not a subject many students gravitate towards, and the Ministry of Education has been continuously trying to make the learning of this particular subject, more interactive and encouraging for its learners.

With this in mind, the final round of the first-ever Math’s Bee Competition concluded on Friday, May 17 at National Centre for Education, Research and Development (NCERD).

Dave Chowtie, a student representing Graham’s Hall Primary School, emerged the victor of the competition. His competitors were Kyle Melville from North Georgetown Primary School, Mikaeel Nedd from St. Ambrose Primary School, Akeem Fowler from Stella Maris Primary School, Kyra Adams from West Ruimveldt Primary School and Jaden La Rose from Winfer Gardens Primary School.

District Education Officer (DEO) of Primary Division, Adrian Elgin.

Math Coordinator at the Georgetown Department of Education, Corrinne Osborne.

The Math Mistresses, Timekeeper, District Education Officer (Primary), Adrian Elgin, Math Coordinator, Corrinne Osborne, and Chair Person, along with the six (6) contestants, [from left] Jaden La Rose, Mikaeel Nedd, Akeem Fowler, Dave Chowtie, Kyra Adams and Kyle Melville.

Student of Graham’s Hall Primary School, Dave Chowtie, holding his 1st place trophy.

Student of West Ruimveldt Primary School, Kyra Adams, holding her 2nd place trophy.

Student of Stella Maris Primary School, Akeem Fowler, holding his 3rd place trophy.

The six (6) contestants of the final round of the Math Quiz.

The quiz lasted for three (3) rounds which ended with a tiebreaker between Melville and Nedd; the former came out ahead of the competition.

Asked about their preparation, the students said they invested much time and were assisted by their teachers and parents.

Fowler, who aspires to be a surgeon and treats Mathematics as a hobby, said that he devoted at least eight (8) hours daily towards preparing for the quiz.

Meanwhile, Chowtie, whose mother and teacher quizzed him regularly, related that the competition was “easy” as he has “done it many times [before]”.

Adams, the lone female, said that one day she wants to open a school that will have an emphasis on extracurricular activities and “competition like these”. She noted that the Math competitions “push us to study and be proud of what we have”.

District Education Officer (DEO) of the primary division, Adrian Elgin, said that the inter-school Math Quiz competition was one of the many initiatives generated by the Department of Education Georgetown, to boost pupils’ academic performance.

Elgin added that the competition has motivated the students to study and there has been a Georgetown wide improvement in mathematics at the primary school.

Math Coordinator at the Georgetown Department of Education, Corrinne Osborne, said the Primary School’s Math Quiz began last year in October with twenty-seven (27) schools contesting.

“The competition would have motivated teachers to focus on their teaching strategies to get the children to respond,” said Osborne.

She added, that to “get our children involved, we needed to raise the standard of mathematics… we did this through visits to schools, clinical sessions, one-on-one sessions… and through parent forums.”

Additionally, Osborne said that the competition focused on assessing three (3) areas; namely, knowledge, algorithmic, and reasoning.

She revealed that in the knowledge area, Chowtie and Adams scored the highest, while in algorithmic, Melville performed the best and Fowler got the highest score in the reasoning section.

Below is a table with the names of the contestants, their schools, scores and positions.