Report from the Logical Olympiad Finals 2016
On 28 November 2016, the 9th National Finals of the Logical Olympiad took place in the Ball Games Room of Prague Castle. Altogether, 195 students and pupils out of 61,451 participants originally enrolled in the local and regional rounds competed in three categories. The winners, Radovan Šolle (category A), Jan Brada (B), and Jan Petr (C) brought home their prizes – laptops. The parents of the Petr siblings must have been extremely proud of their sons – while the older, Jan, was the champion of category C, the younger brother, Jakub, took the silver in category B.
The number of competitors is growing by the year, which corresponds to the growing popularity of the competition – more than a half of all primary and secondary schools in the Czech Republic participate in the competition now.
Besides the competitors as such, guests from Mensa Slovakia and Poland were present. In Poland, organizing a similar competition is currently under consideration, and our guests came to personally witness the course of the competition, to gain inspiration, and to get as much information as possible about the event. In Slovakia, the Logical Olympiad is already being held on the regional level, and a national round is planned for the future, which led our guests to focus on the organizing and management of the finals.
“We are pleased with the interest expressed by other national Mensa organizations, and we would be extremely pleased to see the implementation of the Logical Olympiad in other countries too,” says Petr Mazal, the Chairman of Mensa CR. “It is a competition that is perfect both for building a positive attitude to logical thinking as such in children, and for searching for hidden talents. The fact that it is a competition motivates children to participate; online registration and the primary round make it easily accessible. Almost anybody can therefore participate, and the chance to try out the competition in a “no-risk” way minimizes the worries of failure. Therefore, even children who would otherwise not even consider participation enrol in the competition – and actually find out that logical tasks can be fun,” explains Mazal, as one of the aims of the competition.
Another invaluable advantage of the competition is the natural screening it provides. “It is not unusual that an apparently mediocre or even problematic pupil is, due to his success in the Logical Olympiad, actually identified as a gifted student, who was just led in a way that was unsuitable to his needs. Identification and maximum development of gifted pupils are among the main aims of Mensa CR. We would like to help other National Mensas implement the Logical Olympiad as a tool for identifying gifted students in their countries as well,” says the Chairman.
The Logical Olympiad would not be possible without the work of volunteers. Every year, approximately 150 volunteers join in to help, which is a deterrent to many national Mensas. “We have seen serious interest among representatives of other national Mensas, which however diminished once they had a closer look at the amount of (usually volunteer) work necessary for organizing the Logical Olympiad in its current form,” adds Tomáš Blumenstein, the former Mensa CR Chairman, and current member of the International Board for small national Mensas. “If this is the case, it is best to start slowly – to take e.g. just one age category or one region, in order to reduce the burden at the beginning. After all –even our Logical Olympiad was far different from the current success, the first year attracted only 5500 participants from Prague, the Central Bohemian Region and the Moravian-Silesian Region.“
To facilitate effective know-how sharing and to make organization of the first years of Logical Olympiads easier for any foreign Mensas, Mensa CR created a so-called “Logical Olympiad in a Box”. “It is a complete set of information, recommendations, and sample printed materials for the competition, rules of the Olympiad, and a licence to use the online registration and examination system. It also includes a complete set of tasks for all three rounds – primary, regional, and finals – in three age categories,” explains Blumenstein. “We are also ready to support national Mensas that are intent on organizing a Logical Olympiad in other ways. Our aim is to make the start as smooth as possible for any organizers, and to make sure that the competition can run for years thereafter.”
The goal for the future is, according to Blumenstein, organizing international finals: Mensa CR promised to organize international finals, should at least five countries participate in the competition. “I hope we will all be able to reach that goal soon, which would be a major leap forward for the Logical Olympiad.”
Related topics
5.12.2016
Logical Olympiad 2016 – finals 28.11.2016 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |