Da Vinci Decathlon

By Mackenzie Perfect, Junior School Teacher

If brains made an audible sound when they were working hard, that’s what would have been heard on Friday morning as two teams of Years 5 and 6 students participated in the online version of the da Vinci Decathlon Competition. Working collaboratively, they puzzled their way through ten tasks, including: Ideation, Engineering, Legacy, Creative Producers, English, Mathematics, Science, Code Breaking, Art and Poetry and Cartography.

Not only were their academic abilities impressive, but also their ability to work as a team, negotiate, and deduce the best solutions. Below are some quotes that summarise the students’ experiences from the day.

• The da Vinci competition was a series of subjects with questions that were challenging. Adding to the already hard task, there were other factors like time pressure and working as a team to make sure everyone was happy. I really enjoyed doing the da Vinci competition because it was a great learning experience. — Haripriya Rathod

• I think this experience taught me new things about myself that I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t take part in this opportunity. I also think that I learnt things about other people who I don’t really know well. I enjoyed being able to challenge myself in new areas such as cartography and engineering. Overall, this day was amazing, and I’d like the opportunity to do it again. —Sophie Linton

• This amazing experience taught me a lot of things about myself and how to look at subjects from a different perspective. It was a great opportunity to look at how I function with others and how they liked having me in their group. I loved being in the da Vinci competition. This experience was an amazing one to witness and I would like to be part of this splendid event again. — Elena Rock

• The da Vinci Decathlon was lots of fun and very challenging. — Anthony Zhang
  

• Be nervous, panic, get through it: the three key steps in keeping relatively calm while 20 other schools can see you trying to unpack, solve or puzzle out the layout or answer various questions that may seem completely unsolvable at first. All I can say is that it was worth it and the new connections between my peers and the knowledge I gained has me cheering at what I’ve accomplished. — Ishi Gopu

• The da Vinci Decathlon was fun but a bit hard. We had to do tasks which were quite difficult, but we got there in the end. — William Pennington

• The da Vinci competition was really fun but also challenging. I really liked working with people I usually don't work with, as I got to hear their opinions and learn from them. I had heaps of fun working through the challenges with my classmates and I hope I can do it again next year. — Shanika Mamoon

• The da Vinci Decathlon is a great opportunity to challenge yourself with lots of subjects. You can stretch yourself to your limits and working with others gives you extra support. My favourite part was engineering because we got to make drones out of paper. I would recommend the da Vinci Decathlon because it can really help you improve your teamwork, and you can use the knowledge from the decathlon to help with work at school. — Dinugi Weerabaddana Dissanayake

• The da Vinci Decathlon was an amazing experience. We were challenged with time, stress and extremely difficult tasks. I enjoyed the challenge and having someone to help at all times. The time limit was definitely the biggest challenge of today. I learnt that I work better if I stay calm instead of being stressed. — Will Mailler

• The da Vinci Decathlon was an enjoyable but challenging experience. There were lots of challenges that you have to complete in a short time period, but it was also a great experience as you got to use your skills and work as a team. Overall, I think it was a great, enjoyable and competitive task that strengthens your skills. — Henry Dong

• I really enjoyed today because I got to work with others I don't normally work with. I was really nervous starting because I didn't know what to expect. The timer also made me nervous but it all worked out in the end. — Charlotte Pham

• The opportunity of being in the da Vinci was a great chance to challenge myself and push my limits. I loved how the activities varied from creative tasks to problem-solving tasks. Despite the stressful time limits, the da Vinci Decathlon really pushes you and shows your inner self. — Khushi Katamaneni

• I loved the da Vinci contest. It was super-duper fun. — Ben Scowcroft

• My favourite part was the quiz at the end, because we joked around and had a lot of fun to wrap up the sessions. The challenging part was the time limit because we had to get tasks finished in like an hour and a half! Something I learned about myself was that I can stay calm under pressure to finish. — Ashley Ward

• The da Vinci Decathlon was challenging but fun. Year 5 and 6 students were faced with some really challenging problems that tested our skills and teamwork. Even though it was challenging, everyone had fun doing the challenges and trying subjects that we don't do at school normally. We did subjects like engineering, legacy, art and poetry and much more! Overall, everyone tried their best and had tonnes of fun! — Madeleine Luu

• The da Vinci Decathlon was a challenge. — Alex Lu

• I thought that da Vinci was actually quite fun, as you had to complete tasks during a time limit, although the engineering could get stressful at times, as you had to get a lot completed during a short amount of time. — Abhiram Kaza