9-yr-old Danielle Boadu shares how she beat 450 others to win national math competition in UK

Danielle Boadu, a nine-year-old pupil at Heritage Park Primary School in Peterborough, won a national math competition that asked primary school children to show creativity to mark World Maths Day.

Boadu won the “Sum it Up” maths competition earlier this month in the Year 3-4 category with her visual interpretation of how she pictures maths in her school playground, Peterborough Telegraph reported.

The competition was launched by edtech provider Renaissance Learning and it saw entries from primary school children across the UK and Ireland who created their visual representation of maths. Boadu’s design was chosen from over 450 entries across the UK and Ireland. It was chosen by a panel of expert judges who really admired her work.

“I’m so pleased for Danielle. She made some fantastic mathematical observations and recorded her findings very carefully,” Danielle’s teacher, Nina Edenbrow, said. “We examined our school environment and it was fascinating for the children to see the maths in nature – the symmetry was a particular surprise for many children as I think they imagined nature to be rather ‘haphazard’ but they could see how an understanding of number and shape could help them to create art.”

Boadu also spoke about her win. “I had fun with my entry because I enjoyed finding all the shapes and patterns in the playground, and drawing the objects that I counted and observed. When I first looked all the things in the playground looked normal but then I looked closer and thought about all the things we had learnt in maths and I thought ‘wow, I can see all of the patterns.”

Boadu and other winners at the competition won a Kindle Fire and a year’s subscription to Renaissance’s Freckle and Star Maths practice and assessment solutions for their class or school, Peterborough Telegraph reported. Every entrant will also receive a certificate to appreciate them for taking part in the competition.

Catherine Magee, Head Judge for the competition, said: “It’s so important that we engage children in maths in an exciting and accessible way and this competition has given teachers and pupils the tools to do that.”