The future is in safe hands

From Future Problem Solving to Ethics Olympiads and the da Vinci Decathlon, Mrs Anni Gold has been busy guiding teams of Junior High and Senior School students thorough the hurdles and, sometimes baffling, questions asked of them at various competitions over the year.

ANNI GOLD | Gifted & Talented Coordinator Future Problem Solving

Future Problem Solving

Throughout this year, seven teams of students from Years 7 – 12 have been involved in working with Mrs Gold to train for the Future Problem Solving Competition.

Future Problem Solving (FPS) is an international program encouraging high academic achieving students to solve global issues using critical and creative thinking skills. This year, we had seven teams across Junior High and Senior School and each Term the teams worked collaboratively to research, brainstorm, and analyse scenarios on the topics of Youth in Competitive Sport, Wearable Technologies, and Human Environmental Impact. It has been fascinating to listen as the students discussed how current and previous FPS issues, such as the spread of infectious diseases, have actually transpired and impacted us globally.

All teams worked incredibly hard this year to complete their team booklets and to implement feedback received from evaluators. Two of our teams were successful in qualifying for the National Finals held over to 15 and 16 October. Big thanks must go to Mrs Aishford for accompanying Mrs Gold to Ironbark for the day so that the Year 9 team of Jess Macowan, Ella Young, Abbey Capper, and Josie Bird (pictured facing page, top right) could compete. These girls clearly impressed because they WON! They achieved first place in the National Finals and are now off to Internationals in Massachusetts in June next year. Whether this will be contested remotely, hybrid, or in person remains to be seen.

Special congratulations to our Year 11 team of Melinda Herman, Sophie Mauracher and Charlie Hoare (pictured facing page, top left) who have consistently made it to Nationals for the past five years. This year, they managed to place sixth in Australia. An outstanding effort.

Ethics Olympiad

The Ethics Olympiad is an opportunity for our Senior School and Junior High students to engage in interesting ethical discussions with students from schools across Australia. Students read interesting and relevant ethical cases and practice using their skills in engaging in careful and critical ethical discourse (similar to the deep discussions that might occur around the family dinner table or in the car). They become familiar with the cases and the ethical dilemmas that they pose. On Training Days students interact and learn from professional philosophers and ethicists from universities across the US, Canada, UK, India, New Zealand, and Australia (a positive result of the flexibility required in recent times). In May, four Year 11 students, Felicia Lim, Melinda Herman, Lachie Bretherton-Scobie, and Brekken Meznarich (pictured facing page, middle and lower left) participated in the Senior School Ethics Olympiad Competition Day. They collaborated to prepare their ethical arguments well and impressed the judges with their knowledge of ethics, skills in ethical discussions, and fantastic teamwork, achieving fifth in the state and a Special Commendation.

Scenarios considered included: • How much nuance or complexity should communication about important scientific issues e.g. COVID contain, especially if it decreases the message’s persuasive value? • Does wealth allow a person to make more ethical purchasing choices than if they were poor? • What are the central values at stake in attempting to regulate speech on social media platforms? • How do we judge whether a show’s depiction and show’s creators of an ethnic or religious minority is ethical? What role do the motives of a show's creators play in evaluating this ethical conflict?

Our Junior High group of Ava Robinson (Year 7), Lucia Blums, Elizabeth Wilson, Georgie Porter, Ting Jiang, Mulan Ma, Ava Bishop, Sophie Crampton, Elim Mahadeo, Liam Tighe, Aliana Tan (Year 8), and Lara Bellamywells (Year 9) are busily preparing for their competition day in November. Scenarios being considered include: • It’s just a joke! Does the morality of a joke depend on context? • How much influence should peers or parents have on a teenager’s life choices (Thirteen)? • Is it a lie if you believe that it is true (Seinfeld)? • Under what circumstances does the right to be forgotten on the internet (European Union) outweigh other basic rights, especially freedom of speech, and freedom of the press? And once you’ve done your time, should your sins be forgotten? • Climate vs economy • Gender roles in bullying (Billy Elliot)

da Vinci Decathlon

A team of Years 5 & 6 students worked together to develop their teamwork skills whilst developing their knowledge of the ten academic disciplines making up the da Vinci Decathlon. Weekly sessions with Miss Lyn Shaw focused on developing skills in English, Cartography, Engineering, Ideation, Mathematics, Science, Creative Producers, Art and Poetry, Code Breaking and General Knowledge. The students journeyed to Nudgee College in June, displaying exceptional skills in collaboration and thoroughly enjoying their experience.