Cracking the Code
The Wenona Year 8 da Vinci Decathlon students have come first in Code Breaking out of a field of almost 80 teams.
A secret to the students’ success was the power of strategic collaboration. Two girls began working on Code Breaking activities, while a larger group tended to different tasks. Once the larger group had submitted their work, they joined the first two students for some complex discussions, which led to the understanding of different perspectives, the incorporation of new ideas … and potential solutions.
Working around a whiteboard, the students represented their ideas visually, calibrating and recalibrating their responses before submission.
“The students kept pondering the possibilities they saw in the problems even after submitting their work”, said Gifted and Talented Teacher Mr Ben Rigg. “It was fantastic to see their curiosity and wonder being stoked and the way they maintained their energy, enthusiasm, and collaborative spirit throughout. In fact, they seemed to be even more invigorated by the day’s end”.
Other results from our Years 5,6,7 and 8 teams include third in Art and Poetry, sixth in Ideation and ninth in English.