They may be young, but three children from HeronBridge College are not afraid to take on a (maths) challenge.
Tai-Jun (TJ) Jung (12 years old and in Grade 6), Tai-Yeon (TY) Jung (10 years old and in Grade 4) and Kayla Tomlinson (12 years old and also in Grade 6) from the school’s preparatory phase have put their thinking caps on in order to make it to the third round of this year’s Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (Amesa) mathematics challenge for 2019.
The third round took place at the University of the Witwatersrand campus on 12 September, and the three schoolchildren were accompanied to the event by the Grade 6 maths teacher Colleen Aiken.
“For the first round, everyone at the school competed [during the week 13 to 18 May],” explained Kayla, who is also an avid gymnast. “Then, those who did well went to the second round [the regional leg, which took place on 18 July]. Then, if you did well you could go to the third round.”
“The third round [provincial level] was sort of hard,” explained TY. “We had a workshop where we learned a lot, and then we had to do the challenge part.”
The workshop was a chance for the children invited to learn from others about what techniques have helped in solving difficult maths problems, which fits into the aims of the challenge which include encouraging an interest in maths, promote problem-solving, emphasis the importance of reading in mathematical activity and to encourage mathematical thinking amongst the youth.
“It was a lot harder, and not like school, you had to work out the answer,” explained TJ. “Our maths teacher Mrs Aiken took us there – she’s a very nice maths teacher, she teaches well and helps us to learn.”
Aiken, for her part, was equally impressed by how her young charges took on the challenge during the third round. “They blew me away,” she told the Fourways Review. “Their speed and the way they tackled their work was unbelievable and they were so eager and enthusiastic to be there – especially TY.
“The calibre of work was at a very high level, and I’m very proud of them.”
The results on how the three did will be released on 12 October, at which point the Fourways Review will do an update.
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