Young | From Espoo comes a maths genius who has gained fame in Europe: 19-year-old Aino Aulanko

Aino Aulanko, 19, is currently training for the International Mathematics Olympiad, but a few years ago it would not have occurred to him to apply for them.

Aulanko, who matriculated this spring from Espoo’s Otaniemi High School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, won gold in the European Girls’ Mathematics Olympiad in April. It was Finland’s best ranking ever.

There were 212 competitors, and only the visiting country of the United States was better than Aulanko Hannah Fox. Last year, Aulanko received a silver medal in the same games.

Still, when he was still in elementary school, Aulanko didn’t even like math classes.

“It felt really mechanical. At the end of elementary school, my father suggested that I apply for a math class in middle school. However, I didn’t apply, because I wasn’t interested,” says Aulanko in a cafe near his home in Tapiola.

Counting learning outcomes have recently dominated the public discussion about the skills of Finnish schoolchildren.

At the same time, for less attention has stayedthat in the last Pisa study, Finland was one of the few countries where girls did better than boys in mathematics and science subjects.

Already since 2012, girls in Finland have done better in mathematics than boys.

This year, in addition to gold, Finland also won a bronze medal from the European Girls’ Mathematics Olympiad, which it received Siiri Roschier from Helsinki’s Finnish Cooperative School.

In the overall results, Finland’s team of four was ranked 16th among 37 competing countries, which is also a historically good result. The overall European competition was won by the Ukrainian team.

Aino Aulanko remembers being excited about riddles and tasks where he could develop a solution himself.

He was especially inspired by his father, an engineer. Father showed Aulango a website full of different puzzles.

“I also remember a car trip from childhood, when I asked my father how long it would take before we got there. He encouraged me to calculate it myself by telling how many kilometers it was to our destination and how many kilometers we traveled on average in a certain time.”

Dividend calculation, that is. In Aulango’s childhood family, mathematics was often connected to everyday situations.

In elementary school Aulanko felt that mathematics was not creative but formulaic. He knew many aspects of mathematics even before they were taught in class, but still did not get permission from the teacher to proceed at his own pace.

In middle school, on the other hand, Aulango’s class had many students who had difficulties with mathematics. However, he got permission from the teacher to do assignments for higher grade levels.

The teacher also encouraged participation in the national math competition. Competing really aroused enthusiasm.

“Mathematics in competitions is exactly the kind of creative problem solving that I like.”

The national competition success has also guaranteed Aulango a place to study at Aalto University, where he plans to study technical mathematics, physics and programming.

In a competitive spirit For a long time, Aulango’s eyes were only on the European Girls’ Mathematics Olympiad.

“It didn’t even occur to me to apply for international competitions,” he laughs.

That is, to compete with the boys.

The Girls’ Mathematics Olympiad was founded for this very reason in 2012. It had been noticed that in the international mathematics Olympiads only about one out of ten competitors was a girl.

When Aulanko finally dared to participate in international competitions in 2022, she was the only girl on her team. Next year the competition will be held in Bath, England. There are four boys and two girls in the team.

In international those who perform best in math olympiads often receive contacts from top universities in the US.

Finland’s success has traditionally not been very good, because the big countries China, the United States and Russia are rolling year after year.

The reason for the success is both the large size of the age groups and more organized activities.

In Finland, participants in the Mathematics Olympiad are coached on a voluntary basis by those who have previously been successful in the Games, many of whom are university researchers.

Coaching takes place in Valkeakoski at the Päivölä school, known for its mathematics line, where Aulanko has recently spent long periods of time.

Teaching is often from nine in the morning to nine in the evening. One teacher teaches for about five hours at a time.

“Competition training is really nice. They meet like-minded people.”

Is In the lobby, there are also thoughts on what could help those who struggle with mathematics.

“Pen and paper. In schools, math is often calculated only on the computer, but I have always wanted to calculate on paper. I can illustrate things better when I draw them myself.”

Aulanko is not alone in his thoughts. Also assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Helsinki Anne-Maria Ernvall-Hytonen and lecturer Mika Koskenoja and a high school math teacher Teresa Heino are have just saidthat schools’ digital enthusiasm is one of the reasons for the collapse of high school and university students’ math skills.

According to Aulango, it has been compulsory to use the computer in high school mathematics classes.

“But yes, even there, I have first done the assignments on paper and then typed them in.”