As a self-proclaimed “veteran maths enthusiast”, I naturally have zero resistance to anything remotely related to maths — let alone SCIE’s annual Maths & CS Week. What I didn’t expect was that after spending the past two years taking part as a player, I would suddenly find myself joining this year’s event as an “organiser”! My G2 Maths teacher, Ms. Hardeep, invited me to co-host an activity called Krypto with her.
I’m sure most people know the game “24”. For example: “Can you use 3, 3, 8 and 8, together with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, to make 24?” (A little challenge for everyone reading this!) Krypto is a variation of 24, where players use five random numbers to reach a sixth, randomly generated target number.
Because there can be so many different ways to solve each challenge, it’s a game that students of all ages can enjoy. No matter what year group you’re in or what subjects you take, if you know the four basic operations, you’re ready to play!
To prepare for the activity, Ms. Hardeep went to Sam’s Club and bought a huge pile of chocolates for the students. I also decided to vibe-code a Krypto game website for the event. On the day itself, we set up a few tables on the first floor of the teaching building and stayed there until 4:30 p.m., when school finished, inviting passing students to stop and take on the challenge.
Quite a few students came to play. Everyone seemed happy to give this little game a try, and there were some seriously impressive mental-maths players among them. The most exciting moments came during multiplayer rounds, when someone would shout out the correct answer before everyone else and immediately claim a chocolate before heading back to the dorm, happily munching away.
It was through this simple game that I noticed just how much curiosity and determination our students have. Some kept coming back after losing in multiplayer mode, refusing to give up until they finally got their “first kill”. Others had already won a prize but still didn’t want to leave, choosing to stay and challenge themselves again and again. Seeing this was genuinely surprising and exciting — it really showed me how motivated and driven our SCIE students are!
This year’s Maths Week also featured many other exciting activities, including the MathMagic Video Competition and various inter-House maths competitions. Let’s hear what some of our teachers had to say:
Mr. Jianzhong：A Wednesday Lunchtime to Remember
During Wednesday lunchtime, pupils embraced a thrilling mathematical challenge. First came the Cross Number competition, followed by a 17-question Maths Group competition that spanned pure numbers, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus.
Working in groups of four alongside their housemates, pupils collaborated as a team and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Thank you to all who took part — we hope you relished this enriching experience.
Ms. Melissa：Estimation Jar and Proportion Jar
We ran a fun Estimation Jar and Proportion Jar activity next to the first-floor volleyball court.
We set up two special glass jars for students to explore math with real objects. The small jar was filled with big blue and green crystal stones, challenging students to guess the total number of stones inside. The larger jar was packed with tiny red and green beans, and students needed to figure out the percentage of red beans. Around 30 students joined this interesting math challenge.
The correct total number of crystal stones was 333, and the closest guess from students was 312. For the red bean proportion, the real answer was 31.7%, and one student nailed it with a guess of one-third!
We found an interesting pattern: most students only guessed within 100 or around 200 stones, and almost no one guessed over 300. This shows a cool math fact: our number sense is accurate only for numbers under 10. When numbers go above 100, we basically lose an intuitive feel for quantity.
Through this hands-on activity, students got to experience and understand this math principle in a fun, vivid way.
Ms. Xianya: Sticker Stats Week- The Results Are In
Our students took to the sticker boards with enthusiasm, and every dot added a little more data to the school’s picture. The data had some surprises for us.
Sleep: Most students are getting fewer than 8 hours a night. Given how busy this time of year is, nobody should be shocked, though we may all want to have a word with our pillows.
Birthdays: Birth months turned out not to be evenly spread. July, August and September had noticeably fewer birthdays, so the statisticians among us have a mystery to investigate.
Caffeine: One caffeinated drink was the most popular answer, which is a very reasonable choice. A few brave students went past five a day, though. (Hello? Are you alright? Please drink some water.)
Maths: And the big question: do our students love maths? Well, quite a few of them put their dots to the left of 1 on the 1 to 10 scale, even though 0 wasn’t an option. Maths can be a little torturous sometimes, but there is plenty of fun in it too, as this week showed. Thank you to everyone who stuck around and stuck a dot!
Besides these, Maths and Computer Science Week featured many other interesting activities, including Sphero Robotic Art, Symmetry in Mosaic, and a Donald in Mathmagic Land video, among others.
A big thank you to all the teachers in the Maths and Computer Science Department for their thoughtful planning and preparation. We hope to see even more students join us next year and discover the joy of maths and computer science together. See you next year!
Besides these, Maths and Computer Science Week featured many other interesting activities, including Sphero Robotic Art, Symmetry in Mosaic, and a Donald in Mathmagic Land video, among others.
A big thank you to all the teachers in the Maths and Computer Science Department for their thoughtful planning and preparation. We hope to see even more students join us next year and discover the joy of maths and computer science together. See you next year!
- Article / Niko Li
