Adelaide’s St Andrew’s school wins 2020 International Accelium Olympics for critical thinking, problem solving
These Adelaide students have proved they’re the smartest in the world, bringing home gold in a global critical thinking Olympic challenge.
Education
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There is a group of young South Australian schoolchildren who’ve good reason to jump for joy after winning gold at the 2020 International Accelium Olympics.
The students from St Andrew’s School at Walkerville took out the top prize in the 2020 International Accelium Olympics in a tightly-contested race to glory ahead of second-placed Základní škola Varnsdorf from Prague in the Czech Republic.
Ankori High School from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv took home the bronze medal.
The International Accelium Olympics is an open tournament designed for students from Year 1 through to Year 8, providing a platform for schoolchildren across the world to apply their critical thinking skills in solving challenges, with points awarded for each challenge successfully solved.
More more than 22,000 students representing 107 schools from 23 countries took part in the online competition.
Proud teacher Paul Huebl said the school’s focus on critical thinking had contributed to the Years 4 and 5 students’ victory.
“Accelium, like our classroom-based Mind Lab program, utilises strategy games to captivate students’ imaginations and develop their strategic thinking skills, self-awareness, focus, and persistence,” he said.
“It allows students to practically learn critical thinking skills through games.
“These skills are transferred to the classroom, where they assist the children in learning within the School’s inquiry-based curriculum.”
The challenges comprise of playing different games against AI of varying difficulty, as well as midgame scenarios that students must proceed from, much like the ‘chess puzzles’ found in newspapers.
“The children really enjoyed the teamwork aspect and while each obviously tried to do their best, it was wonderful to see the enormous encouragement among the students as they appreciate it was the overall score that ultimately counted,” Mr Huebl added.
“We are both delighted and humbled to have achieved this incredible result,” Deb Dalwood, principal of the state’s oldest independent primary school, added.
“It is particularly heartening as the critical thinking skills that brought us victory are fundamental to our educational doctrine – and, I believe, a powerful visual endorsement of our philosophy that St Andrew’s School is where bright futures begin.”