Da Vinci Programme Teaches Critical Thinking
The Da Vinci Programme “taught me to think critically and not just take people’s word for it.”
We were delighted to receive this piece of excellent feedback from one of our Year 10s at the end of the final Da Vinci Programme session last month.
Our TES award-winning Vinci Programme at NHEHS encourages girls to take a cross-curricular approach to learning. Focusing on current events and learning new skills through debate and collaboration, the sessions require no prior knowledge of a particular subject, but an open and inquiring mind is a must-have! Girls from Year 10 are given a choice of two topics to participate in.
Topics this year have included:
Behavioural Economics
Pass the Baton: Conducting Masterclass
The Morality of Cultural Appropriation
Are you the sort of person who would join a Cult?
The Destruction of the Past
The Chemical Origin of Life
No-one wants a Knock-Off: Authenticity in Classical Art
Being a Man: Exploring Modern Masculinities
Other comments from participants included:
“In each session I have learnt something new about each topic which I think is amazing. It has opened my eyes to different issues and topics which I didn’t know much about before.”
“I really liked how you could see how passionate and knowledgeable the teachers were about the subject, as I felt that I was getting a very high-quality lecture . I also enjoyed how it was on a subject relating to what the teacher teaches, but is not on the curriculum.”
“It’s a really important topic that we wouldn’t otherwise have talked about at school and it was really interesting to hear lots of people’s opinions and reasoning.”
“The sessions were engaging as it they interactive and allowed you to be creative.”
“I learned so much. I think that this programme helped me and my peers grasp a better understanding of the world outside of our GCSE curriculum.”
A big thank you to Mr Piesse for organising the programme this year, both offline and online, with the final two sessions taking place virtually via Google Meet. And also to the members of staff who led the individual sessions with such enthusiasm for their subjects.
We look forward to finding out which topics are up for discussion in 2o2o/21!
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