Numbers are
scary.
Just ask any student trying to stare down the cold symmetry of
the multiplication table. Then again, numbers become less
frightening with familiarity, often with the realization that,
somehow, they all inevitably work together.
And that's what Sakthi and Kamatchi Vel's Numerix Bee is all
about. Starting at 9 a.m. today at the Delaware State University
campus in Dover, several hundred elementary and middle school
students will be competing in the second annual Web-based Numerix
Bee tournament.
The bee enables students to compete on computers with each other
in real time to test their skills in math and problem solving. There
are 24 layers of difficulty, often tied to a student's grade level.
For example, a student may have 30 seconds to take four numerals
- 15, 30, 30, 16 - and divide, multiply, subtract and add to get 23.
There are often several different ways to solve a problem. One
answer to this problem is (16+30) x 15/30=23.
Parents and guests may watch and play along with the students.
The Vels, who live in Hockessin, own a software company that
developed the Numerix Bee program. Kamatchi Vel, a former math
instructor, and Sakthi Vel, a software engineer, have worked on the
program with others in the company for years. They have two children
in Red Clay schools.
"It is a creative and enjoyable way to motivate students to
practice their math skills," said Red Clay Superintendent Robert
Andrzejewski, whose staff helped develop the Numerix Bee software
through suggested changes.
"It's fun for the kids and it's great for problem solving and
number facts," said Emily Bankert, a third-grade teacher at Mote
Elementary in Wilmington. She and several students from Mote's
third, fourth and fifth grades will go to Dover to compete, she
said. She has a competition available to her third-graders each
night at 7:45 and twice on weekend days. They can log on from
computers at home and compete with other students or the clock.
Bankert regularly receives e-mail reports detailing who played and
how well they performed.
Web access is helping the Vels' dream that their program may go
regional and even national in the next few years. And they're
dreaming of going beyond numeric problems to word problems, and
envision a physics, chemistry or biology bee. "It's a great tool for
students and teachers to use year-round," Kamatchi Vel said.
Reach Victor Greto at 324-2832 or mailto:vgreto@delawareonline.com
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