Da Vinci Decathlon

Next week, six Pacific teams of students across Years 5-10 will compete in the Queensland da Vinci Decathlon at AB Paterson College and Nudgee College. The da Vinci Decathlon is an academic skills competition with team challenges in the following 10 events:

• Mathematics – emphasis on problem-solving, number patterns and logic puzzles.
• English – spelling, word origins, definitions, textual analysis and writing tasks.
• Science – engagement with higher level scientific concepts to test their ability to apply them.
• Code Breaking – deciphering complex codes.
• Engineering – a design task that tests problem solving skills, creativity and ingenuity.
• Ideation – creative and innovative process of generating, developing and communicating new ideas in response to a problem or challenge.
• Creative Producers – emphasis on creating a 60 second dramatic performance under pressure.
• Art and Poetry – construction of a poem interconnected with a work of art based on the theme of exploration.
• Cartography – deciphering maps and applying the principles of map making to represent spatial information in an imaginative way.
• General Knowledge – current affairs, entertainment, the Renaissance, sport and trivia.

Students have been training hard at their preferred disciplines for many weeks. Only eight students per year level can be selected to attend the event and we would like to thank all those who trained. Students not competing at the Decathlon provided challenge and motivation for selected team members, encouraging them in their pursuits.

We wish all teams success at the da Vinci Decathlon and look forward to hearing about the challenges.

Mrs Christine Doyle, Mrs Jo Belchamber, Mrs Linda Sydes, Mr Andrew Block and Mrs Melissa Ousley, Decathlon Coordinators