360 Australian students from six schools are converging in Luna Park this week to test their literacy, math and science knowledge against five million students from around the world.
The three-day competition tests students in a variety of 60-second online games involving spelling (World Literacy Day - October 13), maths (World Maths Day - October 14) and science (World Science Day - October 15).
There are five different levels students can play, with 20 games on each level.
Last year’s WEG winner, Tatiana Devendranath of Melbourne’s Haileybury College, told The Educator that she was happy to have seen the competition grow over the past year, also welcoming recent changes to the event’s format.
“The scale of it is a lot bigger now, which I think is great,” Devendranath said.
“The format has also changed from 50 games to 20 games, which means that students are able to go to school, participate there and still be able to get everything done.”
Craig Collier, junior school teacher’s aide at Sydney’s St Andrews Cathedral School, said that by participating in the event his students were “able to track what they’re doing throughout the course of the year and also cater to whatever particular level they’re at.”
The event is being hosted by 3P Learning, an Australian company internationally renowned for its online education resources including Mathletics.
3P Learning Australia CEO, Tim Power, told The Educator that what made this year’s event stand out from the rest was the encouraging level of growth in student participation which he said was driven by similar events overseas.
“Over six million students have registered for this event, and there are similar events such as Microsoft Stadium which are happening in over two hundred countries and territories, so you can see that natural growth,” Power told The Educator yesterday.
“This event is also building momentum to support UNICEF with their School in a Box program.”
15-year-old Miriam Kashif from Malek Fahd Islamic School, Beaumont Hills, was one of the five ambassadors for the games representing their state.
Kashif said the games were a fun and inspiring way to bring students together for a good cause.
“The World Education Games are a great opportunity for kids to unite over education and also have a lot of fun at the same time,” she said.