Mathematical Kangaroo is an international mathematical competition where over 50 countries are represented. There are twelve levels of participation, ranging from grade 1 to grade 12. The competition is held annually on the third Thursday of March. According to the organizers, the key competence tested by Mathematical Kangaroo is logical combination, not just pure knowledge of formulas. It is the largest competition for school students in the world, with over 5 million participants from 47 countries in 2009, and 6 million by 2014.
History
The competition was established in 1991 by André Deledicq, a professor of mathematics at the University of Paris 7, and :fr:Jean-Pierre Boudine |Jean-Pierre Boudine, professor of mathematics at Marseille. The idea comes from the Australian Mathematics Competition, initiated in 1978 by Peter O'Halloran. It is based on multiple-choice questions, which were rarely used in France at that time, at least in mathematics. For this competition, Jean-Pierre Boudine and André Deledicq were awarded the 1994 d'Alembert prize of the Mathematical Society of France. The competition has spread around the world. Pupils from Sweden first took part in 1999. By 2011, 860,000 pupils from 9,000 schools took part in Germany, having grown rapidly from 549,000 in 2007. In 2014, the competition was hosted in Latin America. In 2017, the Bulgarian association held a week-long Kangaroo summer camp In Canada, math contest clubs for elementary school children teach "questions typical of the Math Kangaroo contest", starting with those with a visual component and helping to develop logic and spatial reasoning. Students in Pakistan took part for the first time in 2005, the numbers increasing each year since. In 2009, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that the competition was very popular in Europe, and was "finding its way into the United States". Denmark first participated in 2015.
Association Kangourou sans Frontières
Association Kangourou sans Frontières is an international association founded in France, which is formed by maths lovers from all over the world. Motivated by the importance of mathematics in the modern world, their passion is to spread the joy of mathematics, support mathematical education in school and promote a positive perception of mathematics in society. The main activity of Kangourou sans Frontières is designing the annual Kangaroo Mathematics Competition. Mathematical problems in multiple-choice form are offered to children of all school levels. The questions are not standard textbook problems and come from a large variety of topics. Besides inspiring ideas, perseverance and creativity, they require imagination, basic computational skills, logical thinking and other problem solving strategies. Often there are small stories, surprising questions and results, which encourage discussions with friends and family. The organisation of the competition in the individual countries is up to the members of Kangourou sans Frontières.
Format
The competition is a multiple choice test that runs for 75 minutes. It consists of 24 questions for students up to 4th grade, and 30 questions for other students. The sections for 3 point, 4 point, and 5 point questions are equally divided. The minimum score is 0. The maximum score is 96 points for students up to 4th grade, and 120 points for other students. There is a penalty for an incorrect answer, and no penalty for skipping a question.
Prizes
Evaluation and collecting of results as well as the prizes are regulated and organized nationally. Special prizes are given for the “longest kangaroo jump” for each school. Specific prizes are given to students if they reach certain point scores.
Research
Elisabeth Mellroth has investigated the use of mathematical competencies in the mathematical kangaroo.
