Mathematics Olympiads could take students to university – 02/24/2024 – Folha Seminars
[ad_1]
Mathematics Olympiads attract millions of students every year and, as in any competition, they reward the best. But, in addition to handing out medals, they can encourage students to study independently and enjoy the topic.
Eduardo Alves da Silva, 30, who is now doing a post-doctorate in mathematics in France, says that he felt encouraged to learn more about the subject in 2005, with the first edition of Obmep (Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad). “I was always looking for textbooks from more advanced grades. Participating in the Olympics was a challenge for me, but I didn’t even know the potential it would have,” he says. He won a silver medal in 2008 and two bronze medals in 2009 and 2011.
Obmep is the largest scientific competition in the country. Last year, in the first phase, it brought together 18 million students from 55 thousand schools (including private ones).
Medalists are entitled to the PIC (Scientific Initiation Program), which offers advanced mathematics classes and grants, via CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), a scholarship of R$300 to those enrolled in public schools.
When an awardee enters higher education, they have access to the PICME (Scientific Initiation and Master’s Program), which also grants scholarships.
The scholarships and the initiation program made Eduardo dive into mathematics once and for all. “The courses stimulated me and allowed me to continue studying. I never went hungry, but I was from a very humble family in Vacarias [RS]. Without the scholarship, I would hardly have been able to finish college.”
Claudio Landim, coordinator of Obmep and researcher at Impa (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), highlights that the competition does not require specific knowledge. “To do well on the test, you need to have creativity, imagination and reasoning ability. The questions are designed to detect talent even where teaching is not good. Then, we help to form this talent, so that it has an impact on society.”
This year, the entity opens its undergraduate course in mathematics of technology and innovation, with classes starting in April. The selection took into account performance in five competitions of this type, including Obmep.
In general, the disputes have three levels of difficulty, according to education, and two phases. At Obmep, the first phase is classified, consisting of 20 multiple-choice questions. In the second, there are six discursive questions.
Cocal dos Alves, a city of 5,000 inhabitants in the hinterland of Piauí, was impacted by the Olympics. In the first edition, in 2005, 25 were approved for the second phase and 19 were awarded prizes. Since then, there have been several medalists.
Sandoel Vieira, now a mathematics professor at UFPI (Federal University of Piauí), was one of the students who passed to the second phase in 2005, although his first medal, gold, only came a year later (he won two more gold and two bronze).
“We didn’t have cable TV or internet in the city. Everything was always the same. The Olympics was something different that appeared, but we thought we wouldn’t have the slightest chance”, he says.
The first medals stimulated the desire to continue. In this process, the support of the mathematics teacher was fundamental. “We studied on the balcony of Professor Amaral’s house, in our free time. He made everything fun and, most importantly, he believed in us when we didn’t even believe in ourselves”, he says.
Several of Professor Amaral’s students are now doctors, accountants, physiotherapists and, of course, mathematicians. “In 15 years, the city’s paradigm has changed,” adds Sandoel.
Seminar discussed the importance of mathematics for economics; watch
Cocal dos Alves had an average grade of 330 in the Saeb 2021 (Basic Education Assessment System) in high school. The average in Brazil is 287, on a scale that goes up to 500.
Antônio do Amaral, professor Amaral, says that the impact of the competition depends on how the school uses it. “The subject is considered challenging, but we managed to create a pleasant atmosphere for studying. The Olympics affects the will of young people, who begin to understand it as something possible.”
From a family of farmers, Natália Lopes, 21, is finishing her degree in mathematics and has already been approved for a master’s degree at UFPI. During these holidays, she went to Rio de Janeiro to take a course at Impa.
“I always saw that Obmep was my chance to go to college. I tried every year, since the sixth. I only managed to do it in the second year of high school [prata] and then in the third also [bronze].”
For her, another advantage was creating the habit of studying independently. “I used textbooks to prepare for Enem. There was no internet, just an old cell phone.”
In the family, she must not be the only one to go to college: her younger sister has already won a bronze medal and dreams of graduating.
[ad_2]
Source link
