In a challenge of communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, Year 8 Da Vinci team one, were voted the winners on the first of the two Year 8 Technology Challenge Days 10 May 2016.In teams of 15 students worked together to make a marketable product. The brief asked teams to produce a cooked product, promotional and branding materials and a uniform. The teams then appoint a project manager who assigns roles to the group of 15. With teams in different places (food tech, textiles and DT rooms) groups are encouraged to use social media to stay in contact.

The start of the creative problem solving comes from a food brief that the students are presented with prior to the day. Each brief outlines the market and general creative direction the students need to look to – Da Vinci team one were given the Crazee Cupcakes brief which requires them to develop a range of cupcakes around that theme. All the ideas and final products were judged and scored by Principal Chris Binge and Vice Principal Matt Rappel, together with teacher judging as well as each group scoring another. All the points are added up and Da Vinci team one was a clear winner with 178 points.

The top three teams were (1) DaVinci 1, (2) Einstein 2 and (3) Einstein 1.

Mark Roper Head of Technology said: “The team worked really well to produce a solid range of coherent outcomes in a very short space of time. THey were well prepared and came to the day already knowing what they intended to do as they had researched well. At the end of the day the project managers feedback on what went well and areas they need to improve on. They learnt a lot in the day beyond technical skills and have a lot of fun in the process of learning.”