University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) Organizing a Training Course on "STEM Teaching" and Opening the Contest "ThE STEM UEH Mekong 2024”

On April 25, 2024, UEH coordinated with the Department of Education and Training in Vinh Long Province to organize the opening of the training course on "STEM Teaching" for teachers of high schools and middle schools in Vinh Long Province, and the contest “The STEM UEH Mekong 2024” for students of schools in the Mekong Delta Region.

The program is organized in 2 phases:

- Phase 1: STEM education training for Principals, Vice Principals, and key staff at schools and Continuing Education Centers; Leaders and staff of Education and Training departments, teachers in high schools and junior middle schools in Vinh Long province on April 25, 2024.

- Phase 2: Organizing the contest "The STEM UEH Mekong 2024" from May 21 - May 31, 2024 for teachers and students of schools in the Mekong Delta region.

Being proud of many community activities that have been carried out recently, UEH focuses on organizing programs that contribute to promoting and improving the quality of general education in the period of 2021 - 2030. Activities connecting university and high school levels have contributed to improving governance and management capacity, the exploitation and use of information technology, English teaching and learning abilities, and especially solutions to promote autonomy and dynamism for students in learning.

Continuing UEH's practical contributions to general education activities through the UEH Global Project in recent years, the training course on "STEM Teaching" for teachers of high schools and middle schools in Vinh Long Province and the opening of the contest "The STEM UEH Mekong 2024" for teachers and students of schools in the Mekong Delta region are organized to: (1) create a playground to inspire creativity in students, promoting STEM education activities at high schools and middle schools; (2) at the same time, strengthening connections between University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and high schools in in-depth consulting to help high schools and middle schools implement STEM projects at all levels and achieve high results; and (3) inspire creative ideas with a hope to select potential STEM projects for incubation at the "Mekong Startup Incubator" and support consulting, investment connections, and project development.

Overview of the training course

Attending the training course, on the side of the Leaders of the High School Department (Ministry of Education and Training), there was the participation of Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director, and members of the High School Department: Mr. Dang Hiep Giang, Mr. Pham Duc Tai, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Mr. Phung Thanh Thuy, Mr. Le Trung Dung. On the side of leaders of Vinh Long Department of Education and Training was Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director. On the side of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, there was the participation of Assoc.Prof. Bui Quang Hung - Deputy Director of UEH cum Director of Vinh Long Campus, and the Board of Directors of Vinh Long Campus and especially the participation of more than 400 teachers representing leaders of the Department of General Education and Continuing Education (Department of Education and Training), leaders of the Department of Education and Training of districts, towns and cities; principals and vice principals of high schools, middle schools, and continuing education centers in Vinh Long province.

Speaking at the training course, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Bui Quang Hung - Deputy Director of UEH cum Director of Vinh Long Campus - shared: " University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City established a Campus in Vinh Long province in 2019 with the mission of training high-quality human resources and fulfilling the responsibilities in research, consulting, and transferring economic knowledge to the Mekong Delta region. Not only that, UEH also carries out community activities to contribute to the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta. Since its establishment in 2019, activities associated with Vinh Long province and the Mekong Delta have taken place regularly every year. UEH has proactively organized many programs, transferred online teaching technologies, and successfully built online lectures for middle and high school teachers on the UEH platform. In addition, it has also combined STEM and entrepreneurship and innovation training for teachers and students in the Mekong Delta. UEH wishes to continue to carry out community connection activities to joinly contribute, build and develop quality education and human resources for the Mekong Delta."

Assoc.Prof. Bui Quang Hung - Deputy Director of UEH acum Director of Vinh Long Campus - at the Opening Ceremony of the Training Course

Representing the co-organizer, Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long Province - remarked: "The Department of Education and Training of Vinh Long province thanks the leaders and delgation of the Department of Highschool Education (Ministry of Education and Training) for paying attention and orienting education activities in Vinh Long. Especially, today, the training course has a presentation by Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the High School Department. We also thank University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for your attention and support, and for accompanying the Provincial Department of Education in recent activities throughout the implementation of the STEM education program, contributing to realizing the goals of the General Education English Curriculum 2018. Since then, the capacity of managers and teachers has been improved in organizing, managing, building, and implementing teaching according to the STEM method. After today's training course, it is hoped that schools will build specific and detailed plans, apply knowledge and skills well to continue research, organize implementation as well as have solutions to strengthen and organize teaching to bring STEM into schools effectively, contributing to improving the quality of education in the province."

Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Department of Education and Training - delivering the opening speech at the training course

Within the framework of the program, Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the High School Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training presented organizational forms of STEM, STEM lessons, experiential activities and research activities in engineering, etc. to answer questions from officials and teachers about STEM teaching in the General Education English Curriculum 2018. In his presentation, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh noted some issues in compiling and designing STEM lessons for students in Natural Sciences and Social Sciences; ways to organize STEM activities through practical experiences, strengthening cooperation with higher education, research, and vocational education institutions, and businesses; organizing research activities for students who have the ability and interest in scientific and technical fields and exploratory activities to solve real-life problems that can be implemented in the form of a research topic/project by an individual or a two-member group, under the guidance of a teacher or researcher with appropriate expertise, organizing a STEM festival or science and engineering competition at the unit to evaluate and praise the efforts of teachers and students etc. He highly appreciated the connection between University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City and high schools to take advantage of resources and solutions to promote the development of general education.

Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of High School Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training), presenting the training content

At the discussion session, under the moderation of Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Director of High School Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training, and Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan - Deputy Director of Vinh Long Department of Education and Training, Teachers from schools and the Department of Education in Vinh Long Province discussed on STEM teaching revolving around the following issues: Does STEM teaching apply to the field of natural sciences or both natural sciences and social sciences? Is it proposed to have specific instructions for evaluating STEM teaching at schools, on how to change teaching periods when integrating many subjects, and on the roadmap for implementing STEM teaching in middle and high schools?; Criteria for evaluating STEM teaching lessons and assessing student quality, research materials when compiling STEM lessons and experiential activities are still limited, lack of research materials, etc.

Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh and the delegation from the Department of High School Education completely answering questions from teachers as well as suggesting many issues for schools to organize STEM activities.

Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Mr. Trinh Van Ngoan, and members of the delegation of the Department of High School Education discussing and answering questions from the participants.

Representative of the Program Organizing Committee, Assoc.Prof. Bui Quang Hung presenting flowers as a thank to Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Director of the Department of High School Education

Assoc.Prof.. Nguyen Xuan Thanh had a lot of information to share regarding implementing STEM teaching at schools. The organizing committee hoped that the training program would provide leaders and teachers of schools with solutions to successfully implement STEM education activities at their units

Following the UEH Global Project, UEH will implement Phase 2 of the program and the Contest "THE STEM UEH MEKONG 2024" from May 21 to May 31, 2024 at UEH - Vinh Long Campus, and welcome the participation of competition teams from high schools and middle schools of the Mekong Delta Provinces.

Additional photos regarding the training course: