The 2015 Victorian da Vinci Decathlon
The da Vinci Decathlon began at Knox Grammar School in Sydney in 2001.
Participating schools then began to host events in Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland. Schools enter a team of eight Year 7 students who participate in the following activities:
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- Mathematics – emphasis on problem solving, number patterns and logic puzzles
- English – spelling, word origins, definitions, textual analysis and writing tasks
- Science – students engage with higher level scientific concepts to test their ability to apply them
- Code Breaking – students will decipher complex and mysterious codes
- Engineering Challenge – a design task that tests problem solving skills, creativity and ingenuity
- Philosophy – dealing with logic, observations and evidence
- Creative Producers – emphasis on creating under pressure a 60-second dramatic performance
- Art and Poetry – the team will develop a poem interconnected with a work of art
- Cartography – students will decipher maps and apply the principles of map-making to represent spatial
- General Knowledge – current affairs, entertainment, the Renaissance, sport and trivia
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The 2015 Plenty Campus da Vinci Decathlon team comprising of the following eight Year 7 students; Ethan, Caitlin, Ben, Julien, Caleb, Thomas, Benjamin and Shehana competed against 14 other schools in the regional final on Monday 18 May. The students departed the School at 7.00 am and headed to Overnewton Anglican Community College, ready to begin the academic Decathlon at 8.15 am. The team members were excellent ambassadors for the School and the students thoroughly enjoyed the day. The team was awarded first place in the General Knowledge discipline. Congratulations to them all!
Seven students were also chosen from their respective form groups from The Ridgeway Campus to represent the School. The Decathlon was very much enjoyed by all the students who attended. Working as a group, they tackled the different subject areas with enthusiasm and passion and showed sportsmanship to a level beyond their age group. The Rigeway Campus team achieved second place in the Science division, which was fantastic!
Here are some of their thoughts about the day:
There was a nervous and excited energy as we arrived at Overnewton Anglican Community College. The day started with a session of Cartography, Science, English and Art and Grammar. I worked on Science where we had to work on adaptations and description of different animals, but helped out with Art and Poetry and Cartography. I enjoyed this session because it challenged my Science skills and made me think deeply. Later in the morning I did the Maths test. I really enjoyed the Maths because it gave us really hard and puzzling questions which pushed us to our limits, but we were still able to solve most of them. I completed the afternoon doing Engineering and General Knowledge.
In the Engineering challenge we had to build a model out of two bits of card and sticky tape that would stand up to a fan. We tried our best to build the Burj Dubai but it turned out to look more like a triangle. General Knowledge probably challenged our team the most, but because of our varied backgrounds we were able to take out first place in this section. Overall it was a great day and I felt we all worked well as a team.
Ethan
Once we got to Overnewton Anglican Community College we went inside and sat down at our table. In our first session we had four different subjects: Cartography, Science, Art and Poetry and English. We zoomed through Cartography and finished with plenty of time to spare so those people helped with the other categories. In the end we finished all four subjects in the time we had but we used all the time we had because we wrote the last word and a few seconds later the first session was over.
In the second session I had to do the Creative Producers activity. Even though we didn’t come first, second or third in the activity we had fun. In the last session I worked on the Engineering task and we had to make a building using two small pieces of card and paper. We did really well, however we didn’t come first, second or third. The main highlight in the day was the General Knowledge task because we came first in that category out of everyone! We all had heaps of fun.
Ben
The da Vinci Decathlon was an amazing day and it was a great experience that I will never forget. Everything ran smoothly and the group worked really well together and we were able to sort out any feuds we had. We always reached a decision that suited the whole group and I felt like we cooperated really well. It was great meeting all the other schools and everyone was really friendly. I was really proud coming first in General Knowledge and I honestly didn’t expect it. The play was probably my favourite thing because it was hilarious and it was just good fun! I would like to thank all the teachers for allowing the day to happen, especially Mrs Kane. Once again, it was a day I’ll never forget.
Tom
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