How can the education system keep up with a changing world?
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RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
15,000 students compete in Times Tables Rock Stars Mathematics competition
The education minister was a keen observer as thousands of school pupils around the country were put through their mathematical paces. About 15,000 students, between the ages of 7 and 13, took part in the Times Tables Rock Stars Mathematics competition on Thursday morning. The event consisted of two corresponding 30-minute questionnaires across the North and South islands, involving about 300 schools. James Meagher and Erica Stanford competing against each other and putting their maths skills to the test. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Education Minister Erica Stanford and South Island Minister James Meagher watched competition proceedings at Christchurch's Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo. School principal Meagan Kelly said her students were "very focused" ahead of the competition. "This is the second Rock Star competition that we've done, so they're pretty keen, they're pretty well practised, and they do love it," she said. "That sense of competition is really amazing, so they really enjoy that." Students at Christchurch's Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo competing in the maths competition. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon The UK-based competition has been touring the world. Underlining the high-pressure nature of proceedings, the event was live-streamed over YouTube. The times table competition was also rejuvenating old rote learning techniques, Kelly said. "There is a bit of a revival in that we want them to have all of these facts locked into their brains, so it makes maths later on, a little bit easier for them as things get more complex." Ten-year-old Haval said he was put to the ultimate test. "I'm not at my best today. I'm usually 70 to 80 questions a minute, now I'm 40 to 50." Other pupils RNZ spoke to explained the competition was both "exciting, challenging, and nerve-wracking". Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Stanford and Meagher were later strapped to their devices, their math skills were put under scrutiny in the ultimate North-South battle, as several pupils watched on. "We've got a South Island representative here in Minister James Meagher, I'm representing the North Island. But maths is the winner on the day right," Stanford said. It is understood Stanford earned bragging rights over her junior minister. Although it was all fun and games on Thursday, problem-solving of a different kind has been needed by Stanford. Eighteen errors were discovered in brand new ministry-funded maths resources. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Mistakes include incorrect sums, a wrong number labelled in te reo Māori, and incorrectly saying "triangles" instead of "rectangles" in an answer. Speaking to reporters, Stanford defended the failure, explaining the sector had moved fast. "There was a very small handful of errors found by keen-bean mathematicians, good on them," she said. "These are existing resources and it was likely they were there for some time. "Actually we've been responsive, receptive. We've gone out to the classrooms and the schools and said if you find anything we'll fix it immediately, which we have. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
The students gathering for New Zealand's biggest maths competition
A child working on maths problems in a classroom. Photo: Unsplash/ Greg Rosenke Thousands of students from 300 schools are competing in a maths competition. As many as 15,000 children between the ages of 7 and 13 are participating in the Times Tables Rock Stars Mathematics Competition, a UK-based competition now touring the world. Organiser Bruno Reddy told Morning Report he was running two competitions in parallel, one for the North Island and another for the South Island. "The children are going to be battling away answering times-tables questions, so that's multiplication and division up to twelve times twelve." Questions are fired at them over 30 minutes and "they don't know what's coming". "The questions are generally leveled at the child's stage so that levels the playing field." Reddy said in recent years schooling had shifted away from rote memorisation of the times tables, but it was coming back. "For a while it was seen as maybe an old way of doing things. Actually the prevailing winds in education are changing, they're coming back around to the idea that knowing the times tables off by heart are going to help with maths confidence and maths skills." Students also needed to grasp the core logic of multiplication and division, he said. "We want to commit them to memory but we also want the children to understand the tables. "We want them to understand that what they represent is 'groups of,' so three times ten means three groups of ten. I want them to know they can combine two groups, like ten groups of two plus two groups of two makes twelve groups of two. I want that flexibility of thinking to make them more robust mathematicians." The event would live-streamed on YouTube, a first for the competition. "This is the first time we've done this and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. "We've got 12,000 to 15,000 students playing from over 300 schools. We've got visits from a couple of ministers and the local MP on the ground, this is fairly high stakes for us," he said. The competition was set to begin at 9.30am on Thursday. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
20 hours ago
- RNZ News
The students gathering for New Zealand's biggest maths competing
A child working on maths problems in a classroom. Photo: Unsplash/ Greg Rosenke Thousands of students from 300 schools are competing in a maths competition. As many as 15,000 children between the ages of 7 and 13 are participating in the Times Tables Rock Stars Mathematics Competition, a UK-based competition now touring the world. Organiser Bruno Reddy told Morning Report he was running two competitions in parallel, one for the North Island and another for the South Island. "The children are going to be battling away answering times-tables questions, so that's multiplication and division up to twelve times twelve." Questions are fired at them over 30 minutes and "they don't know what's coming". "The questions are generally leveled at the child's stage so that levels the playing field." Reddy said in recent years schooling had shifted away from rote memorisation of the times tables, but it was coming back. "For a while it was seen as maybe an old way of doing things. Actually the prevailing winds in education are changing, they're coming back around to the idea that knowing the times tables off by heart are going to help with maths confidence and maths skills." Students also needed to grasp the core logic of multiplication and division, he said. "We want to commit them to memory but we also want the children to understand the tables. "We want them to understand that what they represent is 'groups of,' so three times ten means three groups of ten. I want them to know they can combine two groups, like ten groups of two plus two groups of two makes twelve groups of two. I want that flexibility of thinking to make them more robust mathematicians." The event would live-streamed on YouTube, a first for the competition. "This is the first time we've done this and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. "We've got 12,000 to 15,000 students playing from over 300 schools. We've got visits from a couple of ministers and the local MP on the ground, this is fairly high stakes for us," he said. The competition was set to begin at 9.30am on Thursday. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
