21/03/2024

IMPA hosts 140 teachers from the Rio de Janeiro municipal education network.

IMPA received 140 teachers and coordinators from the public education network of Rio de Janeiro this Thursday (21). The objective of the meeting was to explain the importance of taking the OBMEP exam for students and to encourage the Olympic culture in schools. The professionals were received by the general director of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, who thanked everyone for their support in organizing the Olympiad.

“One of the core principles of the OBMEP organization is that we have always worked with schools. Registrations are done through the schools. We have faced pressure at various times to open registrations to individual students, and we never wanted to do that because we understand the fundamental role that the school plays in the process and, in particular, the role that teachers play in the Olympiad.”

The "Meeting of Teachers from the Rio Municipal School System," which filled the Ricardo Mañé auditorium, also featured Erika Sholl, the OBMEP's Logistics Coordinator for Tests and Awards. She shared with the audience the team's efforts to ensure the Olympiad exam reaches every corner of Brazil. During her talk, she moved the audience by recalling two medal-winning brothers whose lives were transformed by OBMEP. The sons of farmers, they traded farm work for studies thanks to the PIC – Junior Scientific Initiation Program, which grants scholarships to OBMEP medalists from public schools.

The laughs at the event were provided by Professor Pedro Malagutti, national coordinator of OBMEP exams and professor at the Federal University of São Carlos. In a humorous way, he showed the change in the formulation of mathematical questions in schools over the years and the impact on learning. Malagutti also pointed out challenges to be overcome in teaching the subject and spoke proudly about the exam correction process.

“An honorable mention, a bronze medal, for example, can greatly motivate students to continue studying. They surpass themselves, and then they achieve silver and gold. In the national correction of the exams, which is a miniature portrait of Brazil, since all states are represented, the number of creative, different, and unusual solutions we find is incredible. There are solutions better than ours. They know more math than the question writers. I've learned that we are the coaches, but they are the ones who compete. They are very intelligent.”

For Chenia Maciel, a teacher at the Calouste Gulbenkian Municipal School, located in Cidade Nova, the event was an opportunity to better understand how the OBMEP works. “This meeting helped us see the Olympiad in a new light and better understand what the OBMEP can offer students. The Olympiad represents a leap forward in our education; it's a way to show our students that they can pursue any profession.”

The teachers present at the meeting were given OBMEP books as gifts. The 19th edition of the Olympiad will take place on June 4th (1st phase exams) and October 19th (2nd phase exams). The results will be announced on December 20th.