The 45th Annual West Virginia State Mathematics Field Day will be held Saturday, April 27, at Fairmont State University in Fairmont Operated and organized by the West Virginia State Math Field Day Organization, the event is being sponsored in part by the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium and the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
The event is for students in grades 4-12 with schools in each of the eight Math Field Day regions. Each region sends three students to represent their region in each grade level 4-9 and ten students for the 10-12 competitions.
The State Mathematics Field Day event will include activities and games for grades 4-9 which are challenging and fun. The activities for the students in grades 10-12 are patterned after those used in The American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). All the activities for both groups have been selected according to the basic philosophy that “mathematics is truly an exciting and challenging field of study.”
The events in grades 4-9 include a written test, mental math activities, relays, and estimation activities, which are both computational and physical in nature. The mathematics faculty at Fairmont State University prepares the grades 10-12 activities and grades some of the exams. These activities include an exam and short answer questions, which are individual events. Each RESA team will also compete in relays, a team power question and team questions.
The West Virginia State Mathematics Field Day was established to promote increased student participation in classroom and extracurricular mathematics. The first State Math Field Day was held on May 16, 1975, in conjunction with the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting at Potomac State College.
On Friday, April 26, in Hardway Building optional activities will be held for participants in grades 4-8 and a speaker will be present for participants in grades 9-12. Both optional events are sponsored by the Fairmont State University Math Department.
Students must register for the competition through their local regional math field day director for the W.Va. State Math Field Day. On April 27, participants meet for opening remarks at 8:30 a.m. in the Fairmont State University Falcon Center. After the competition, which occurs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., an awards ceremony is scheduled for approximately 3:30 p.m. Location will be in Gym 1 of the Fairmont State University Falcon Center. Parents and interested parties are invited to attend.