Decoding the special attraction of Math competitions on the Internet

Along with the explosive development of the Internet, online contests were held very early in Vietnam. Just enter “online math exam”, Google search engine has returned nearly 70 million results. It can be seen that online competitions, especially Mathematics, are increasingly attracting the attention and participation of students at all levels.

Strengthening the knowledge system

Vietnam officially had the Internet in 1997. Just over 10 years later, the country’s students had the first online math playground, the Violympic, launched by FPT Corporation.

Competitions like Violympic have helped students get acquainted with the huge amount of effort in this subject. According to FPT’s estimate, each student when preparing for and participating in all rounds of exams (in a school year) can access up to 2,000 problems and become familiar with new math and exam formats. The competition lasts almost every school year. Therefore, to win the highest award requires students to have a persistent process of accumulating knowledge, the ability to apply and remember knowledge in both breadth and depth.

Mr. Hien, the parent of Tri Thanh (province Silver Prize for Violympic in the school year 2021 -2022), said that at first, his child liked and excelled at Vietnamese. He himself does not encourage his children to participate in online competitions because it is easy to distract from the main study in class. However, after the school launched, he both studied and participated in the Violympic and went deeper into the competition round at all levels, he realized that he was more gifted in learning and interested in Math. “My results in regular school are also improved significantly. Previously, I thought that my children only participated in the movement, but the knowledge and habits formed from the contest are really useful”, Mr. Hien shared.

Inspire learning

Playgrounds such as: Violympic Math Competition, VioEdu Math Arena create a friendly, healthy and completely free environment for students to exchange and learn with friends across the country.

The common point of the two playgrounds is to integrate knowledge in the game model with conquest missions, rankings and rewards; thereby stimulating the competitive mentality of the students. Not only competing, students are empowered to actively learn through lectures with: animated videos, exercises personalized by artificial intelligence AI… when studying on VioEdu.

Summer 2021 – a time when the whole country is tense because of social distancing, students from many different provinces have been connected, coordinated to work in groups, and made an online presentation in the final round. VioEdu Math Arena”. This exam creates conditions for students not only to improve their ability to solve Math, but also to develop soft skills, especially to explore the two-way relationship between Mathematics and real life.

These colorful and diverse competitions help children have more active learning motivation, which is what parents and teachers want.

Equipping skills for global digital citizens

Many years ago, Vietnamese students when entering international playgrounds were often assessed as “slow to adapt” because their foreign language skills were not good enough, and they lacked necessary skills such as skills in using technology. Violympic’s English Math exam helps to completely overcome these weaknesses. Over many generations of students, they have improved their English skills and used the Internet as an effective learning channel. Achieving high achievements in the Violympic is also a stepping stone for students to confidently have good resilience and reach higher goals in the international arena.

During the peak days of the pandemic when social distancing was prolonged, online learning became their only option. Obviously, the skills gained when participating in online competitions such as Violympic and Math arena have helped them get used to learning completely online, maintaining their study habits.. .

With practical benefits, Violympic has always been a prestigious playground, a “friend” of students and parents in more than 27,000 schools in 63 provinces. In the school year 2021 – 2022, Violympic reached 35 million accounts. On April 23, the National Final round of the 14th year of Violympic will take place, expected to have the participation of more than 57,000 contestants, an increase of 335% compared to the previous school year.

According to information from the organizers, the Violympic National Round for the school year 2021 – 2022 will open blocks 2, 3, 4 in Vietnamese Math, and remove Block 12 in Vietnamese Math. The number of awards for this round will also be determined at the outset, with 1,100 students at the top of each Primary; The top 600 students in each middle school and the top 110 students in the high school.

Education experts said that online math competitions create learning opportunities beyond geography, bringing math knowledge via Internet connection to students in remote areas. This partly explains the huge attraction of Vietnam’s online math competitions to students.

Doan Phong