“Unlimited” by Nicola Nothnagel from Stellenberg High in Bellville (Grade 11 and 12 Math Art category)
COVID-19 may have put the brakes on many events – but it didn’t stop Nelson Mandela University’s national Math-Art Competition from going ahead. It simply moved online.
Even the prizegiving, which takes place in Cape Town on September 9, will be largely attended via Zoom – and livestreamed across the country using other online platforms.
Run by the university’s Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre (GMMDC), the competition attracted 270 entries from Grade 7 to 12 learners across the country, who developed artworks to fit under the broad theme “my universe”.
The winning artworks will be included in the 2021 online exhibition of the Finland-based Bridges Organization, which runs global conferences and educational programmes promoting the connections between mathematics and art.
“Even before COVID, we had been planning to move the competition online – and were busy developing a website for submissions,” said GMMDC competition organizer Carine Steyn. This decision would prove strategic, as the competition launched just weeks before lockdown began and schools closed.
Looking beyond art for art’s sake, the competition required learners to identify the mathematical links – the perfect angles, repeated patterns and more – in the world around them, and answer two questions describing how maths, art and the theme “my universe” came together in their creations.
“There were a few COVID-inspired themes, with learners describing ‘My universe during Coronavirus’ or describing how the pandemic meant they couldn’t get to the shops to buy the art supplies they needed, but we didn’t get many artworks focusing on the actual virus itself, which we had expected.”
The competition fits into GMMDC’s broader vision to promote awareness around STEAM education – Science, Technology, Education, Art and Maths – in South African classrooms, which is helping learners to become both critical and creative thinkers across multiple disciplines.
To enter, the learners submitted a photograph of their artwork online. Each submission was checked for authenticity. The top 80 entrants then had to courier their physical art works to be authenticated for the final rounds of adjudication by a diverse panel of judges, including mathematicians, artists, teachers, lecturers, STEAM educators, architects and designers – both local and international.
“We are excited about the new digital format of the competition,” said GMMDC director Prof Werner Olivier. “Our mission at GMMDC has always been to provide educational support over distance, using interactive apps and innovative learner-centered digital resources … This is helping to prepare learners for future careers in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Although the participation of learners from under-resourced schools was severely affected by the COVID pandemic this year, we are positive the novelty and potential of the Math-Art competition will place this project in a prominent position on the national education calendar in the coming years.”
The competition, now in its third year, is supported through strong international and local partnerships, with stakeholders including the Provincial Department of Basic Education (Western Cape and Eastern Cape), Umalusi (the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training), Exxon-Mobil and GammaTech, a commercialization partner of GMMDC.
The winners will receive trophies, certificates and vouchers.
Alan Straton
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