Middle school students will compete in the district-wide "Mathletics" event Saturday, January 26. The event will start at 9:15 a.m. and run until about 11:00 a.m. at Place Middle School (7125 Cherry Creek Dr. North).

An awards ceremony will begin in the school auditorium at noon.

Nine middle schools in DPS will send teams to the competition, which tests students on a variety of mathematics skills – from computations and statistics to measurements and geometry, from number theory and consumer math to deciphering graphs, charts, and tables.

Students compete on teams of four. All competition is in written test format (but not multiple choice). The first two competition rounds involve students working individually and the last round allows team members to work together. Sixth-grade students form teams of four that compete against one another; seventh- and eighth-grade students are combined on teams of four and compete against other seventh- and eighth-graders. Individual and team awards are given.

The Mathletics competition is fashioned after Mathcounts, one of the country's largest and most successful education partnerships involving volunteers, educators, industry sponsors and students. The intent of Mathletics is to help students increase their math knowledge and develop their analytical and reasoning skills.