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The article offers information on the 56th Spanish Mathematical Olympiad (remote), Almería, Spain held in July 14 to 15, 2020. It reports the Organizing Committee, chaired by Enrique del Amo Artero, and the RSME Olympics Commission were forced to make the painful and difficult decision to suspend the encounter, given the rapid expansion of the coronavirus at that time in Spain and Europe.

The article offers information related to 61st International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) set be held in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. It mentions that IMO is held every year in one of the countries of the world among high school students. It reports teams of the best young mathematicians from more than 100 countries of the world, representatives of all continents will come to IMO 2020.

In this study, we analyse the relationship between competition and programmatic diversification in 75 Italian universities from the academic years of 2003/2004 to 2011/2012. Results show that local competition, rather than national competition, influences programmatic diversification. The relationship between local competition and programmatic diversification is found to be quadratic such that when competition increases, diversification decreases and specialisation increases, and both relationships are reversed after a certain threshold. We argue that under moderate levels of competition, universities tend to respond to local competition for students by differentiating their programmatic offerings from their competitors. However, when the level of competition is minimum or extreme, universities tend to follow an isomorphic strategy. After the reduction in student demand and the reform of the higher education system in 2008/2009, the relationship was no longer curvilinear because universities operating in extremely competitive environments began to adopt more risk-taking behaviour by engaging in diversification strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a theory of education curricula as horizontally differentiated by their paces. The pace of a curriculum and the preparedness of a student jointly determine the match quality of the curriculum for this student, so different students derive different benefits from learning under the same curriculum. Furthermore, a change in the curricular pace has distributional effects across students, benefiting some while hurting others. We test the model prediction using a quasi-natural experiment we call the G8 reform in Germany, which introduced a faster-paced curriculum for academic-track students. We find evidence consistent with our theory: While the reform improves students' test scores on average, such benefits are more pronounced for well-prepared students. In contrast, less-prepared students do not seem to benefit from the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science and technology competitions are an important platform to verify the use and improve the mastery of professional knowledge of college students. These competitions are also important in enhancing the comprehensive quality and ability of these students. To highlight the role of science and technology competitions in cultivating the comprehensive ability of undergraduates, this study designed questionnaires on college students' cognition in science and technology competitions. In this study, the reliability of the questionnaire was tested and factor analysis method was used to explore the influencing factors of competition cognition under the premise of ensuring the reliability of the questionnaire. According to the results of the analysis, to enhance the training ability of students, positive interactions between teachers and students are promoted through a network-based contest using the WeChat public platform to build a virtual contest environment. Results show that the WeChat teaching platform can gradually improve students' independent innovation ability. These conclusions are helpful to understand the participation situation and existing problems in such competitions, and to provide a useful reference on how to actualize the role of science and technology competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to compete is not limited to business organizations but is also one of the normal practices of publicly funded academic institutions. Reforming higher education and the adoption of neoliberal policies have transformed publicly funded colleges and universities and have forced them towards the market. The paper reviews and critiques: (1) Historical context of competition in higher education and the role of government in enhancing competition. (2) Competition and the use of competitive strategies in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study is to develop positive attitudes in high school teachers towards scientific research and project competitions by training them in scientific research and project preparation subjects. The study group consists of 90 high school teachers. As a result of the study, a significant difference was found in favor of post-test scores of high school teachers about their attitudes towards both scientific research and project competitions (p < .05). Furthermore, the attitudes of teachers towards project competitions, evaluation of projects included in the project competitions, being a mentor in these competitions and behaviors of students, which were considered to be positively changed by project competitions, were determined to be developed in a positive way. In addition, high school teachers developed a more positive attitude towards researchers and scientific research and it was concluded that there was no difference between attitudes of teachers towards scientific research in terms of their gender and educational level. Prior to the study, there was a weak, positive and statistically insignificant correlation between attitudes of high school teachers towards project competitions and scientific research (r = 0.149; p > .05). On the other hand, a moderate, positive and significant correlation was determined between attitudes of high school teachers towards project competitions and scientific research as a result of the study (r = 0.319; p < .05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature establishes that education drives economic performance, but the extent that education is associated with a country's competitiveness is empirically untested. Our study analyses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 63 countries to ascertain education's role in explaining the competitiveness of a country. Strong correlations were found for reading and science (each 53% shared variance) and mathematics (50%). Educational achievement explains 54% of Competitiveness. Regional differences were found with East Asia performing strongly both academically and in competitiveness, ahead of Europe, the rest of Asia, and South/Central America. Anglo-Saxon countries rank second academically behind East Asia, but in terms of competitiveness, the Anglo-Saxon cluster ranks first. We show that Anglo-Saxon countries' leadership in education and competitiveness have been challenged by East Asia. Our diachronic analysis shows that together with Competitive Industrial Performance, the cultural dimensions of Uncertainty Avoidance, Long-term Orientation and Indulgence Restraint, Education contributes to improvements in Competitiveness. The strength of East Asia in educational achievement will have implications for the region's future competitiveness compared to Anglo-Saxon and European countries. Our empirical findings support theoretical arguments for education's role in driving competitiveness. For education policy, the study emphasizes the importance of investments in reading, science and mathematics education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, the development of prospective early childhood teachers' competencies during teacher education is investigated. In detail, early childhood teachers' beliefs about the relevance of competencies, their competence-related self-concept and objective measures of knowledge regarding language and language development were assessed. Altogether the sample consists of 1120 prospective early childhood teachers of different educational tracks in Germany (professional schools and universities), half of the sample at the beginning and the other half at the end of preservice teacher education. Descriptive analyses give insight into perceived relevance and competence-related self-concepts in various domains and language-related knowledge at the beginning and the end of teacher education. Multilevel analyses show that differences in subjective and objective competence-facettes between beginners and graduates as well as between students of different educational tracks exist. Implications for early childhood teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a result of public discussions regarding Germany's standing on international rankings of student achievement, increased attention was focused on enhancing cognitive stimulation in preschools. There are some concerns that preschool curricula that focus more on cognitive stimulation rather than on socio-emotional skills might neglect the socio-emotional development of children. These concerns are rooted in the tradition of German preschools focussing more on the stimulation of social than of cognitive skills. This paper examines these claims by drawing on the German preschool programme ‘KiDZ’ in order to analyse the socio-emotional development (well-being, joy of learning, and worry) of children attending a preschool with a more academically oriented curriculum. This study also investigates effects of domain-specific preschool quality and if any effects of participation in KiDZ might be explained by the quality of the preschools. Positive effects of the children's participation in KiDZ are found and will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

“Campus Conservation Nationals” (CCN) is a recurring, nation-wide electricity and water-use reduction competition among dormitories on college campuses. We conducted a two year empirical study of the competition’s effects on resource consumption and the relationship between conservation, use of web technology and various psychological measures. Significant reductions in electricity and water use occurred during the two CCN competitions examined (n = 105,000 and 197,000 participating dorm residents respectively). In 2010, overall reductions during the competition were 4% for electricity and 6% for water. The top 10% of dorms achieved 28% and 36% reductions in electricity and water respectively. Participation was larger in 2012 and reductions were slightly smaller (i.e. 3% electricity). The fact that no seasonal pattern in electricity use was evident during non-competition periods suggests that results are attributable to the competition. Post competition resource use data collected in 2012 indicates that conservation behavior was sustained beyond the competition. Surveys were used to assess psychological and behavioral responses (n = 2,900 and 2,600 in 2010 and 2012 respectively). Electricity reductions were significantly correlated with: web visitation, specific conservation behaviors, awareness of the competition, motivation and sense of empowerment. However, participants were significantly more motivated than empowered. Perceived benefits of conservation were skewed towards global and future concerns while perceived barriers tended to be local. Results also suggest that competitions may be useful for “preaching beyond the choir”–engaging those who might lack prior intrinsic or political motivation. Although college life is distinct, certain conclusions related to competitions, self-efficacy, and motivation and social norms likely extend to other residential settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Synthetic biology has developed rapidly in the 21st century. It covers a range of scientific disciplines that incorporate principles from engineering to take advantage of and improve biological systems, often applied to specific problems. Methods important in this subject area include the systematic design and testing of biological systems and, here, we describe how synthetic biology projects frequently develop microbiology skills and education. Synthetic biology research has huge potential in biotechnology and medicine, which brings important ethical and moral issues to address, offering learning opportunities about the wider impact of microbiological research. Synthetic biology projects have developed into wide-ranging training and educational experiences through iGEM, the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition. Elements of the competition are judged against specific criteria and teams can win medals and prizes across several categories. Collaboration is an important element of iGEM, and all DNA constructs synthesized by iGEM teams are made available to all researchers through the Registry for Standard Biological Parts. An overview of microbiological developments in the iGEM competition is provided. This review is targeted at educators that focus on microbiology and synthetic biology, but will also be of value to undergraduate and postgraduate students with an interest in this exciting subject area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competence of modelling as part of learning about chemical change is analysed in a sample of 35 secondary students, ages 14 - 15 years, during their study of a curricular unit on this topic. The teaching approach followed is model based, with frequent use of analogies and mechanical models (fruits and bowls, Lego pieces, balls of plasticine, discs of coloured card, etc.) as mediators between the students' intuitive understanding and school science models. Qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis were used, acquiring information through portfolios, interviews, the teacher's diary, and audiotapes. The qualitative results allowed a set of 12 dimensions to be defined that were used to characterize and evaluate different aspects of the competence of modelling. The assessment of the students' performance in each of these dimensions by means of a 4-level ordinal rubric allowed the data to be analysed quantitatively. The quantitative results showed the overall set of these dimensions to have construct validity, with 2 sub-constructs standing out: 'Working with Models' and 'The Nature of Models'. The students reached satisfactory levels of competence in both of these sub-constructs, particularly in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Simpson Prize national annual open competition for Year 9 and 10 History students. The contest is financed by the Australian Government Department of Education and is relevant to the Stage 5 Mandatory History syllabus "Australians at War." Also cited is how the competition will allow teachers to expand the learning potential of their students.

The journal is pleased to publish the abstracts of the six finalists of the 2016 Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society's student paper competition. The 2016 prize committee was chaired by Sameer Hasija (INSEAD), Nicos Savva (London Business School), and Tolga Tezcan (London Business School). The other committee members were: Philipp Afeche, Vishal Agrawal, Aydin Alptekinoglu, Dimitrios Antritsos, Nilay Argon, Mazhar Arikan, Alessandro Arlotto, Arash Asadpour, Atalay Atasu, Nitin Bakshi, Gah-Yi Ban, Opher Baron, Robert Batt, Elena Belavina, Omar Besbes, Kostas Bimpikis, Robert Bray, Carri Chan, Xin Chen, Ying-Ju Chen, Soo-Haeng Cho, So Yeon Chun, Florin Ciocan, Sarang Deo, Lingxiu Dong, Santiago Gallino, Srinagesh Gavirneni, Manu Goyal, Shuangchi He, Jonathan Helm, Ming Hu, Dan Iancu, Foad Iravani, Srikanth Jagabathula, Nitish Jain, Yash Kanoria, Fikri Karaesmen, Diwas KC, Saravanan Kesavan, Bora Keskin, Sang Kim, Song-Hee Kim, Pascale Krama, Mirko Kremer, Harish Krishnan, Mumin Kurtulus, Guoming Lai, Cuihong Li, Jun Li, Lauren Lu, James Luedtke, Victor Martinez de Albinez, Mili Mehrotra, Alex Mills, Toni Moreno, Nektarios Oraiopoulos, Anton Ovchinnikov, Yiangos Papanastasiou, Chris Parker, Rodney Parker, Ali Parlakturk, Alfonso Pedraza Martinez, Ramandeep Randhawa, Paat Rusmevichientong, Chris Ryan, Soroush Saghafian, Ozge Sahin, Burhaneddin Sandikci, Nicola Secomandi, Stephen Shechter, Pengyi Shi, Amitabh Sinha, Milind Sohoni, Brad Staats, Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, Nicos Trichakis, Owen Wu, Wenqiang Xiao, Nan Yang, Fuqiang Zhang, Jiawei Zhang, Yao Zhao, Karen Zheng, Yong-Pin Zhou, and Leon Zhu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baker Program in Real Estate continued its success in national real estate case competitions over the past year with a second place finish in the 2017 ARGUS University Challenge. This was Cornell's first time placing in the ARGUS competition in its six years of existence. Cornell's team included two second-year students (Yang Yang and Yufei Wang), as well as three first-year students (Paul Heydweiller, Julin Yong, and Alejandro Santander). Professor Crocker H. Liu served as the team's faculty advisor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the creation of the International Mathematical Competition (IMC). Topics discussed include a description of the IMC and its primary goal, an overview of the structure of the team and individual contest section of the competition and a list of sample mathematical problems presented at the competition. It also presents the solutions to the sample problems in the appendix section of the article.

Highlights: [•] Grading systems based on competition ranking usually limit the grade distribution. [•] We propose a methodology based on a betting system to relax the ranking restrictions. [•] Betting assesses the skill to critically analyze source code. [•] A case study in a video game development course validates our proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach of involvement of 10-14 years old children in early education in informatics and their training for participation in informatics olympiads is presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the author's experience with ExploraVision, a student competition offered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Toshiba. Details of the competition, which simulates the engineering design process and requires students to design a theoretical product and create a website and paper explaining their design, are provided. The author's thoughts on how the competition fits into curricula and the usefulness of student-directed projects are also presented.

Copyright of Informatics in Education is the property of Informatics in Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study intends to examine the environments and the characteristics of political participation of teenage political participation. The 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea is used as the case of this study. Traditionally, teenagers in Korea have been known to disengage from political affairs because they are usually worn by intense academic challenge and competition. In that sense, participation of teenagers at such a large scale shown in the 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea can only be explained as a huge shift in political preference of teenagers and conventional social norms. In that sense, the case of 2008 Candlelight Protests of Korea has shown great implications for the political potential of new media, which is capable of revolutionizing the political socialization patterns of youth. Survey results demonstrated that the Internet had become an important tool from which the teenagers collected political information and channels which they used to organize and mobilize. Numbers also showed that the degree of the youth’s sociopolitical interests were higher than the adult’s. Another notable fact found was that female students showed more aggressive involvement than male students and this could be explained by the difference in the Internet usage pattern between male and female students. In using media, adolescent girls displayed more relationship and objective-oriented behaviors than the boys. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What is the best way to design tournaments for status, in which individuals labor primarily for the esteem of their peers? What process, in other words, should organizers of status-based contests impose upon those who covet peer recognition? We propose a formal model of status-based competition that contrasts two competing alternatives. The first, following Merton, is the "Matthew Effect,"according to which a tournament's architect directs slack resources to elite actors and thus widens the distribution of rewards by favoring cumulative advantage. The second is the "Mark Effect," under which a tournament's designer instead pushes slack resources to marginal actors and thus tightens the distribution of rewards. Our results suggest that although the Mark Effect is better for the social welfare of most tournaments, the Matthew Effect is preferable in two distinct contexts: in small tournaments where variation in underlying ability translates into acute advantages for the most capable contestants; and in large tournaments whose contestants face constant, rather than rising, marginal costs-a condition we relate to contestants' perception of their work as intrinsically valuable. Our contributions are twofold: We find, counter to the thrust of Merton's work, that cumulative advantage is not invariably optimal for the functioning of status contests; and we identify circumstances in which the production of superstars is likely to make contests for status better off in aggregate. Implications for future research on status and management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitions are used by many teachers at the grassroots level to develop the talents of their gifted students. Each year the top Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics Olympiad students are identified and assembled into national teams that compete against teams from around the world. This article summarizes findings from the American Olympiad study. Our investigators analyzed data from 345 adult Olympians and found that 52% earned doctorates, and these individuals pursued careers in technical areas that benefit the nation. So far these Olympians have published 8,629 publications, and many of the Olympians have assumed positions in universities or research institutions that contribute to the productivity of the United States. Their success supports competitions as a viable alternative for developing the talents of the gifted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses general culture and selection by competition. One of the tests of administrative competitions, or different schools competitions in France is about general culture. This test is criticized due to the fact that it is not a very important way to judge somebody's skills, the normalization of culture implied with works to know and others not studies.

The article discusses that participation of accounting students in case study competitions gives them a competitive edge in the workplace. It says that an accounting team from University of Southern Indiana (USI) joined the 2008 Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®) Student Case Competition which required participants to develop accounting processes for nonprofit organizations. It mentions that students in an Indiana CPA Society (INCPAS) competition were asked to study a certified public accountant (CPA) firm model. It states that students have the chance to develop their oral and written communication skills through case study competitions. Moreover, case study participant Andrew Eddmenson notes that the competitions provided him with confidence and motivation.

The aim of this two-year longitudinal study was to investigate the role and impact of prior mathematics performance, cognitive appraisals and mathematics-specific, affective anxiety in determining later mathematics achievement and future career orientation among Finnish adolescents. The basic ideas of the control-value theory, assumed to be culturally universal, and previous controversial results regarding the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement were tested in the Finnish cultural context with a longitudinal design. The key premise of the control-value theory is that control and value appraisals are significant determinants of both activity and outcome achievement emotions. Our results suggest that mathematics anxiety, a prospective outcome emotion, is determined by outcome expectancies (success or failure) and outcome value (the importance of performing well). They also suggest that anxiety as a negative affective emotion is a problem not only for those who perform poorly but probably also for certain pupils across all achievement levels. Compared with the performance level and with the boys, the girls exhibited inaccurately low outcome expectancies in mathematics. These low expectancies connected to the negative value of failure are a potential cause for their higher anxiety level. The educational implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using one cohort of 7235 middle school students in Beijing, China, we examined the evolution of the gender achievement gap in middle school. Our study found a more significant female dominance than in U.S. studies: even though boys gradually caught up during middle school, especially in Math and Science, and the gender achievement gap decreased over the distribution of test scores, girls outperformed boys throughout primary and middle school and in each quartile of the performance distribution. As well, girls had a more positive school experience than boys, and boys had a higher dropout rate by the end of middle school. Despite significant gender differences in various important characteristics that have explained the gender achievement gap in the U.S., in our study, primary school test scores seemed to be the only significant source of the gender achievement gap at the end of middle school, indicating the importance of early intervention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Students in Germany are tracked into different forms of secondary schooling based on teachers’ recommendations. The literature shows that school tracking is largely affected by academic achievement levels, but neglects the influence of individual achievement growth. The authors used data from the Berlin study ELEMENT (N =2242) to characterize math growth trajectories, obtain reliability-adjusted measures of individual growth, and evaluate their effect on teacher''s recommendations. The findings suggest that teachers reward math growth while issuing track recommendations. Females, immigrants, and higher SES students are more likely to obtain a college track recommendation other things being equal. And, the probability of a college track recommendation decreases in classes with higher achievement levels and smaller proportion of immigrants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article describes the possibilities of synthetic biology research to creatively engineer living cells as part of the international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition in the U.S. The authors have brought together undergraduates from biology, chemistry, and mathematics to engage in multidisciplinary synthetic biology research. It discusses the role of synthetic biology as an emerging multidisciplinary field. It stresses that the iGEM competition holds tremendous promise for the future of synthetic biology and for all scientific research.

Competition, despite its potential drawbacks, is an easily adopted and frequently used motivator in classrooms. Individual abilities, in the years of schooling, are inevitably different, and performance in competition is heavily ability dependent, resulting that more-able students always win while less-able students always lose. Students easily perceive how well they perform through the result of competition, which is termed as perceived performance in this paper. Consistently demonstrating lower perceived performance than their peers, the less-able students feel discouraged and frustrated, hardly having the same opportunity for owning the sense of achievement as the more-able students. In this study, the authors designed a computerized mechanism, equal opportunity tactic, to lessen the difference in perceived performance between more-able and less-able students. Equal opportunity tactic is incorporated into a version of a competitive learning game called AnswerMatching, in which every student is assigned an opponent with similar ability. An experiment was also conducted to preliminarily investigate the effectiveness and effects of the tactic. Results showed that equal opportunity tactic could reduce the effect of individual ability difference on the perceived performance as well as the belief about how well students could achieve. In other words, less-able students could have similar opportunity of success and build confidence similar to more-able students in a competition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the competitive effects of charter schools on the efficiency of traditional public schools. The analysis utilizes a statewide school-level longitudinal dataset of Michigan schools from 1994 to 2004. Fixed effect and two alternative estimation methods are employed. Overall, the results suggest that charter competition had a negative impact on student achievement and school efficiency in Michigan''s traditional public schools. The effect is small or negligible in the short run, but becomes more substantial in the long run. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study on the element of the Quiz Bowl Quest, a method to motivate students and to showcase business law courses. The study initially discusses motivational theory and practices in business law in relation to the Quest. It then explores the scope of the QuizBowl, with its overall flexible design for multiple sections of courses or within a single classroom. It accounts the results and practical lessons on the application of the Quiz Bowl Quest in business law subject.

Hospital librarians can promote themselves and their libraries by collaborating with institutional departments on significant projects or programs beyond traditional library services that support the mission of their respective institutions. This article reports on one such project, the Annual Academic Competition, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, now an integral part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. Through this project, library staff capitalized on their skills as organizers of data, Web site developers, experts in citation management, and facilitators of academic writing. The Academic Competition has grown in size and qualitative characteristics over four decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract:Using interview data from 34 admissions officers at 17 elite colleges, this paper compares two perspectives shaping admissions policy. Admissions officers apply a “merit” perspective that relies on indicators of student academic and nonacademic achievement. They also employ a “competition” perspective that evaluates student characteristics according to organizational needs. Findings include (a) elite colleges’ maintenance of an illusion that student achievement determines admissions, and (b) that admissions practices are designed to maintain the colleges’ elite status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to analyze the difference of student achievement between charter schools and other public schools using standardized mean-change measures. Although many researchers have studied the effects of charter schools on student achievement, the results of those studies are mixed and unclear. According to this research synthesis of 395 mean-change effect sizes of 13 studies, charter school students' test scores over time are slightly higher than those of other public schools by 0.06 standard deviations. Further- more, the results of fixed-effects regression analysis by duration reveal that the coefficient is positive. Although it is a small difference, this indicates that students' learning gains in charter schools are higher than other public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year the BHMA student essay prize provides a new holistic challenge to stimulate the students' imagination and provoke holistic thought. For the second year running the judges gave the first prize jointly, to Lucy Brennan and Eleanor Tanner. Both chose to write about compassion. Eleanor's essay is printed in this issue; Lucy's essay appeared in the last issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author looks at the role of mathematics competitions and how they can be used to extend and motivate gifted students in Australia. She says that it is highly likely that teachers have a mathematically gifted student in his/her class or to have responsibility for teaching a group or class of gifted students. She notes that competitions are recognized as part of the continuum of provisions for gifted and talented students, and this continuum includes enrichment and acceleration.

The article provides information on the commentary of judges concerning the 2008 Polar Melt Problem mathematical activity contest which aims to determine the impact of rising sea levels on coastal areas. According to the article, the judging process of the said mathematical activity has three stages such as Triage, where judges spend about 10 minutes in assessing each paper; Preliminary Round, where judges read the paper meticulously; and the Final Judging, where judges render a careful analysis and consideration of the schemes and outcomes that are presented. Inasmuch, the judges will announce their commentaries regarding the identification and characterization of the papers that are submitted.

This article discusses Academic Competitions as a tool for differentiation in middle school and how curriculum differentiation has become more challenging with the introduction of the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act. The article explains that academic competitions can expand the depth of classroom content, which allows gifted students to explore content further than in a normal classroom setting. A chart is presented to analyze academic competitions in the subjects of mathematics, science, and the writing and language arts including Discovery Education's Young Scientist Challenge, the Continental Mathematics League, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The article discusses the affective outcomes of academic competitions for middle school gifted and typical children which include motivation, promote a healthy self-concept, coping with subjectivity, dealing with competition and interacting with supportive role models. Academic competitions as an extrinsic motivator for students is explored. Several topics of academic competitions which strengthen the before mentioned outcomes including the mathematics competition MathCounts, writing competition Power of the Pen and Future Problem Solving where teams of students find solutions to contemporary issues are discussed.

The article discusses the outstanding papers in the 2007 Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) of the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP). The contestants used mathematical models to simulate the kidney transplant system in the U.S. The contest was won by a team from Duke University and another from Princeton University. It mentions that the topic of the contest, which is kidney transplantation and allocation, was very timely since policies on kidney transplants are rapidly changing with the help of mathematical models. The article declares that the two most outstanding papers clearly stated changes in the public policy and used correct analytical models to support their conclusions. Detailed discussion of the two papers is also presented.

The article discusses the process of judging at the 2007 Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling (ICM) of the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP). The competing teams created mathematical models to tackle real world issues on the U.S. kidney transplant system. The judges assessed the papers on three important areas including the effective use of current information regarding the U.S. organ transplant network, appropriateness of model use, and integration of various disciplines including mathematics, science, and ethical principles. The article also discusses the criteria for the outstanding papers and the problems regarding plagiarism.