Inspired by the genius Leonardo da Vinci, 32 students from Years 7 to 10 competed in the Da Vinci Decathlon held last week at the Illawarra Grammar School. This academic challenge requires students to demonstrate teamwork, creativity, ingenuity, as well as knowledge in ten key areas. The teams were forced to tackle challenging tasks and problems, and by the end of the two days they had:
- Created designs for highway on-ramps, water supply and energy sources with paper and sticky tape for the Engineering challenging
- Suggested solutions to energy interruption caused by solar flares as well as dealt with an imminent societal collapse due to food shortages for Ideation
- Wrote poetry, created artwork and performed drama on the theme of “Chaos”
The students also broke codes, interpreted maps, solved mathematical problems and answered questions on Science, Mathematics, English and General Knowledge.
Students commented on what they enjoyed about the day:
“I enjoyed the challenging aspects of all the events and having to work effectively as a team to complete the challenges”.
“Team-building and answering questions which align with my strengths”.
The boys are to be commended for the positive way with which they approached the preparation and competition on the day. Congratulations to the teams who received the following awards:
Year 7
3rd place Cartography
3rd place Science
Year 8
1st place Cartography
1st place Engineering
3rd place Legacy
Year 10
First in Engineering
A special congratulations to the Year 8 Team who came third overall on the day. Well done boys!
Special thanks to Mrs Amy Field, Ms Gregorio and Mrs Knowles for working with the students prior to the day and assisting at the event.
Ms Shumack
Enrichment Coordinator