The ESTALMAT project in Catalonia

ESTALMAT is a program with the objective to awaken curiosity, discover mathematical talent and stimulate it, and offer opportunities to young people. It is aimed at students with high abilities in reasoning, deduction, and problem-solving who are in the early years of secondary school, when formal reasoning begins, through extracurricular activities.

It was conceived by Miguel de Guzman and began in Madrid in 1998, under the auspices of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.  

It has been held in Catalonia since 2003, organized by the Catalan Society of Mathematics and the Federation of Entities for the Teaching of Mathematics of Catalonia. It is also held in Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Galicia, the Valencian Community, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, and the Balearic Islands. 

The purpose of the project is to detect, guide, and continuously stimulate, over two academic years, the exceptional mathematical talent of twenty-five students aged between twelve and thirteen in Catalonia, without uprooting them from their environment, through weekly guidance sessions held every weekend for three hours.

The sessions throughout the entire academic year constitute the most important in-person activity to stimulate the mathematical talent of the students participating in the project. In each session, project teachers guide students through problem-solving to develop their creative capacity and strengthen reasoning skills, while also introducing them to some of the challenges yet to be solved.