Scientific initiation for 120 students in Paraguay

Thanks to the support of the donors of GlobalGiving to the Project of “Scientific Initiation for 120 students in Paraguay”, who contributed with a part of the necessary funds, it was conducted the “Annual Course of Mathematics for Young Talents”, which started on April and finished on September.

This course aims to empower the talent for problem solving in young with skills for mathematics, and thus allow them to reach a higher level in this area compared to what they reach through the educational system in Paraguay.

This course has five levels: Pre beginner, beginner, intermediate, pre advanced and advanced.

The centers where this course was conducted along with the level in each place and number of students attending are shown below:

Asunción/Central: Levels pre beginner, beginner, intermediate, pre advance and advance with 86 students attending.

Alto Paraná:  Levels beginner, intermediate and pre advanced with 11 students attending.

Caaguazú: Levels pre beginner and intermediate (intermediate was paid with resources of the center) with 14 students attending.

Guairá: Level pre beginner with11 students attending.

Concepción: Levels pre beginner and intermediate with 14 students attending.

Itapúa: Level pre beginner with 16 students attending.

Paraguarí: Level pre beginner with 12 students attending.

Ñeembucú: Level pre beginner with 9 students attending.

Misiones: Level pre beginner (paid with resources of the center) with 18 students attending.

The contents of each level for this year were these:

Pre beginner

• Set Theory
• Basic Algebra
• Basic Geometry

Beginner

• Divisibility
• Geometry I
• Algebra I

Intermediate

• Number Theory I
• Geometry II
• Algebra II

Pre advanced

• Concurrency and Collinearity
• Functions
• Inequalities
• Number Theory II

Advanced

• Subsets
• The Integer Functions
• Fermat Infinite Descent
• Quadratic Diophantine Equations
• Finite differences and Polynomial Interpolation

We want to let people know that for the execution of these activities, OMAPA provided its own funds together with the donations of our donors from Globalgiving. These donations are extremely useful and help us to achieve our goals.

We hope to keep receiving the support of our donors, to whom we thank for their donations.

Thanks to the support of our donors from Globalgiving to the Project of “Scientific Initiation for 120 students in Paraguay”, who contributed with a part of the funds needed, the Summer Intensive Course for Young Talents was held from February 3 to 7, 2014. For this course were invited all the finalists from the National Mathematical Olympiad 2013.

In the centers of the countryside, it was given the modules of: Strategies for Problem Solving (second module) for Beginner Level and Demonstration Techniques for Intermediate Level (which was given in Alto Paraná, Itapúa, Caaguazú, Concepción and Guairá, in addition to Asunción). In Asunción, besides those mentioned, it was given the modules of Geometrical Constructions (Beginner Level), Combinatory (Intermediate Level), Circular Reasoning and Invariant (Pre-Advanced/Advanced) and continued with the Workshop for IMO and Ibero (International Mathematical Olympiad and Iberoamerican Olympiad) problems solving.

Both in Asunción and the countryside, it was conducted the courses of Beginner Level, Intermediate Level and Pre-advanced level, however the students of Advanced Level had to move to Asunción as it was the only center where this level was conducted.

Moreover, since March 8, 2014, the Annual Course for Young Talents is ongoing and will continue until September 2014. These courses are being conducted in 9 scientific initiation centers from all across the country.

It has been convened to participate in this course all the finalists of the National Mathematical Olympiad 2013, besides the students of 6^th grade from the Children’ Olympiad who won Gold Medals in the finals of every region.

Classes are conducted in several levels as shown below:

In Asunción/Central: Begginer, Intermediate, Pre-advanced and Advanced. In Alto Paraná, Caaguazú and Concepción: Begginer and Intermediate. In Guairá, Itapúa, Paraguarí, Ñeembucú and Misiones: Begginer

For the students of the center of Asunción/Central, the cost of breakfast and lunch of every Saturday are covered.

As the classes to be conducted require teachers especially trained in the contents that are worked in the program for Young Talents, two teachers move every Saturday to two of the centers of the countryside.

These courses are especially aimed to empower the talent for problem solving of young with mathematical skills, and thus enable them to achieve a higher level than the one they achieve through the educational system in our country.

We want to make clear that for the execution of these activities, OMAPA provided its own funds together with the donations of our donors from Globalgiving collected until December 2013. These donations are extremely useful and help us to achieve our goals.

We hope to keep receiving the support of our donors, to whom we thank for their donations.