In a pleasing twist to this year's Primary Mathematics Students' Workshop, two male students finished top two out of three in the mental mathematics competition.

Oakes Field Primary School's Dariq Chase emerged the winner of the workshop, which he described as fun and educational; he said he realized he could use mental math instead of a calculator to solve problems quickly and have more time to check his work. Bahamas Academy School's Anfernee Rolle was second. Palmdale Primary School's Trinity Brooks placed third.

Mathematics Workshop facilitator Felicity Civil, a teacher at Stephen Dillett Primary School was pleased that two male students won the competition. She described it as "impressive," and said their wins gave her hope.

"If they continue in that trend we can look forward to a bright future, because most crimes involve young men, but if these two stay on the right track they could be tomorrow's leaders."

In the mental math workshop, students had to work out math problems in their heads without the aid of a pen or paper, calculator or electronic device. The first person to answer correctly was given a token. At the end of the workshop, the participant with the most tokens was declared the winner.

"Students who attend benefit from the strategies because they can be applied to improve the GLAT (Grade Level Assessment Test) performance," said Civil. She also said the workshop boosted the student's confidence in their mathematical abilities.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology's aim through the workshop is to strengthen the capacity of students at the primary school level in mathematics content, strategies and mental computation. Sixth-grade students were selected to attend based on their above average ability in mathematics. This year, in addition to students from government primary schools, students from Jordan Prince William School, New Providence Classical School and Bahamas Academy participated.

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