MATHCOUNTS Math Video Challenge
Impact
MATHCOUNTS programs have reached over 6 million students since 1983, and teachers see the huge impact of the Math Video Challenge. In fact, 95% “strongly agree” with the statement that they will serve as a Team Advisor again! Teachers also rate the program highly for increasing students’ confidence in their math communication skills and for appealing to students who dislike math. Additionally, the program’s design results in high levels of participation of underrepresented populations in STEM (63% of participants are girls and most participants come from “schools with limited math resources”).
Accomplished
- Need Accomplished
- Evaluation Accomplished
- Sustainability Developing
- Replication & Scalability Accomplished
- Partnerships Accomplished
- Capacity Accomplished
- Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
- STEM Practices Accomplished
- Inspiration Developing
- Under-Represented Groups Developing
This program rocks! It has helped me so much with math and learning how to use technology. I did the competition last year and this year and I am definitely doing it next year. Thanks for having it!
Design Principles
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy. Programs must be Accomplished (
) across all Design Principles, or be Developing (
) in a maximum of three areas.
Overarching Principles
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Need Accomplished
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
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Evaluation Accomplished
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
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Sustainability Developing
Ensure work is sustainable.
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Replication & Scalability Accomplished
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
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Partnerships Accomplished
Create high impact partnerships.
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Capacity Accomplished
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
STEM Principles
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Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience.
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STEM Practices Accomplished
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
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Inspiration Developing
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
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Under-Represented Groups Developing
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.
Program Overview
The Math Video Challenge empowers students to be math teachers, video producers, actors and teammates by creating videos that explain and solve challenging real-world math problems. Teams of four middle school students create videos solving a problem of their choice from the MATHCOUNTS School Handbook and explain the real-world application of the math concept on which the selected problem is based. The public can view these videos on the contest website, where they can vote on their favorites. The 100 videos that receive the highest number of votes advance to an expert Judges Panel that selects the 20 semifinalist videos and ultimately the four finalists. Each member of the four finalist teams receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the Math Video Challenge Finals at the MATHCOUNTS National Competition, where the 224 Mathletes competing in the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series vote for the winning video. Each member of the winning Math Video Challenge team receives a $1,000 college scholarship.
Funders and Partners
Raytheon Company, U.S. Department of Defense, Northrop Grumman Foundation, National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Insurance, Texas Instruments Incorporated, 3Mgives, Phillips 66, Art of Problem Solving, NextThought, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics