How did it all start and our philosophy
How did it all start
It all started in December 2016 with Arsenii Nikoliaev and Andrei Nikolaiev founding a mathematical club "Kvanta" for kids aged 11-13 from Kyiv. The main goal was to bring all the pupils from Kyiv to study cool olympiad mathematics together and compete with one another (and thus grow much faster than they would on their own). The teachers were all enthusiastic students who liked mathematics, many of whom later became medalists of different international competitions including IMO.
Kvanta has grown significantly since then. There are more than 150 people involved in this in Ukraine alone and quite a few graduates of the club won important competitions.
With the passing of time, the club developed but many of the ground rules stayed. Moreover, many of the organizers&teachers went on to top universities and got internships/jobs all over the world. And our experience has confirmed the utmost importance of developing the unparalleled breadth of analytical skills and logical reasoning that comes from studying maths. Sadly most educational institutions still don't put nearly enough emphasis on those things and we hope will be able to change it with Kvanta.
Kvanta has grown significantly since then. There are more than 150 people involved in this in Ukraine alone and quite a few graduates of the club won important competitions.
With the passing of time, the club developed but many of the ground rules stayed. Moreover, many of the organizers&teachers went on to top universities and got internships/jobs all over the world. And our experience has confirmed the utmost importance of developing the unparalleled breadth of analytical skills and logical reasoning that comes from studying maths. Sadly most educational institutions still don't put nearly enough emphasis on those things and we hope will be able to change it with Kvanta.
Our philosophy
1
Individual approach
Different people need different amounts of time to do the same task and we perfectly understand that. Therefore we decided to give anyone the opportunity to message us at any time and check their solution or ask questions about any part of the course.
2
No spoilers
We try to reduce the number of hints and full solutions to a reasonable minimum. Independent work is vital and we try to avoid disturbing it. We want the next generation to be creative, right?
However, that does not mean that we are just going to leave the pupils with the given sets of problems. We will help when someone is stuck or lost! It is just that the way we help might not be explicitly showing all the ideas.
However, that does not mean that we are just going to leave the pupils with the given sets of problems. We will help when someone is stuck or lost! It is just that the way we help might not be explicitly showing all the ideas.
3
Everyone has work to do
No matter what the level of a pupil is, he or she will always have something to think about. We start from scratch and there are exercises that anyone should be able to do. And at the same time we have extra problems for those who go faster than the others. Thus everyone is always busy :)
4
Friendly competitive environment
Friendly competition is one of the best ways to motivate pupils. Therefore, throughout the whole course each participant can view his/her own results as well the results of the others in the "Online Rate Table", which tracks students' progress on selected problems. Note that we are not requiring any of the pupils disclose their names and surnames in the online rate table, everyone is welcome to create a nickname (provided it is appropriate)!
