Exploring critical thinking – 2026 Festival of Dangerous Ideas School Experience

On Friday 21 August a group of Santa Sabina students from Years 10 and 11 attended the 2026 NSW Festival of Dangerous Ideas School Experience, where they engaged in a day of challenging ideas, critical thinking and intellectual exploration. Throughout the day students took part in argument-building workshops, developing persuasive reasoning and evidence-based communication skills. Interactive sessions explored contemporary topics, including the opportunities and ethical challenges presented by artificial intelligence, with students applying a moral imagination framework to consider diverse perspectives, anticipate consequences, and evaluate responsible courses of action.

The Santa Sabina philosopher circle was led by Dr Tim Dean, Senior Philosopher and Manos Chair in Ethics at The Ethics Centre. A scenario which evoked a great deal of discussion centred around the question – Can you view someone’s unlocked phone? Within this activity students honed their ability to listen, question and respond thoughtfully to complex issues and consider other perspectives and ethical frameworks. Two Santa Sabina students were also chosen to participate in artworks including the Virtual Reality Experience – The World Came Flooding In and Heap, an art installation and hands-on archaeological dig.

Attending the 2026 Festival of Dangerous Ideas School Experience provided a stimulating opportunity for students to extend their thinking beyond the classroom and engage deeply and think critically about important questions shaping our future.

Ms Brigida Zagora
Head of HSIE

Student Reflections

I was lucky enough to be able to participate in an art installation debuting at the festival called Heap. Incorporating archeological digging and art display, Heap’s main message is that ideas worth having are rarely clean, easy or safe, involving digging through various mounds of dirt for a set time in order to unearth artworks within that contributed to a larger display. It was incredible to be able to get hands on with such a meaningful and poignant representation of current events and ‘dangerous ideas.’ I was also fortunate enough to find an artwork, Origanum syriacum (Syrian Oregano), within Heap, enclosed in a 3D printed tube. The accompanying plaque explained its deep cultural and medicinal significance in the Middle East, how it is used to heal stress, and used as a key ingredient in za’atar. But today, its wild harvesting is heavily restricted for Palestinians by Israeli conservation laws, transforming a tradition into a deeply political issue. Heap was a super fun experience, while also having a deeper meaning behind it that allowed me, and others who attended the excursion, to gain a deeper exposure to ideas and artworks that push you to rethink what has been buried.
Harper
Year 11

My experience with the VR interaction was very valuable and emotional as it allowed me to see and experience some of the events that flood survivors had to experience themselves, providing me and others with the harsh reality of the effects these floods had on the victims’ lives. I explored digitally recreated homes of survivors and as I went around the room they would be explaining their story to me. The main moment where I experienced one of the survivors’ stories is when I was put in her perspective during the flood. The first object that really evoked strong emotions from me was the piano. A victim described how her child used to put different types of animal stickers on the piano keys in order to learn to play the piano and she described a memory of how, as he played, she felt relaxed and relieved. She then talked about the journey of the piano, from its starting place being shipped to Lismore and then from Lismore to the dump after it was destroyed in the flood. It was a beautiful and moving story that allowed me to realise that these victims’ lives weren’t just damaged because of the flood but rather what they lost in the flood, so many objects that held memories or that had been passed down from older generations had been stripped away from them in an instant. Each object had a different heartwarming story behind it and every story was different which is what made each story feel so emotionally connecting. This experience was emotional but also extremely educational as before this experience I didn’t understand the full extent of the effects flooding had on survivors.
Holly
Year 10