STEM education to be applied in Vietnam’s schools

General schools will have to prepare to organize STEM education, including the building of curricula, material facilities and upgrading of teaching staff.

For policymakers, STEM is understood as a direction to develop comprehensive education and improve proficiency in the fields of Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering.

{keywords}

As for teachers, STEM is an interdisciplinary approach to Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering that increases the ability to solve practical problems, as well as promote experience and develop learners’ competencies.

In order to reach these goals, students need to be equipped with many skills including presentations, creative thinking, teamwork and critical thinking.

The topics of STEM program need to be structured in a reasonable way to ensure that academic knowledge can be applied by students in practice.

General schools will have to prepare to organize STEM education, including the building of curricula, material facilities and upgrading of teaching staff.

For example, one of the topics in STEM education curriculum for fifth graders is a ‘modern mosquito catcher’.

Students have lessons about the methods to prevent mosquitoes and about mosquito behavior (in Science), then they will apply the knowledge, and measure and assemble cylindrical and spherical models (applying knowledge from Math, Engineering, Fine Art) to create a modern mosquito trap that can be used in their homes.

All these things need to be integrated in the topic to ensure that learners can apply most of the knowledge they receive at school to solve practical problems.

Therefore, the STEM topics used at general school need to be designed methodically and systematically, which are ‘open’ to encourage students’ creativity.

Material facilities

STEM education not only means studying through robots, programming, AI or material science, which require high investment costs, but also experiencing through outdoors activities, recycling and low-cost materials.

Many STEM content developers have introduced high-quality programs which both utilize technology by software and create conditions for students to practice through practical materials.

There are also smartphone apps which provide information to parents regularly, allowing teachers, parents and students to interact. Parents are provided with contact book software, and teachers with software packages for teaching and managing students, while students can both study in class and online.

Teaching staff

Teaching staff plays an important role in the success of STEM education. Therefore, it is necessary to be sure that all teachers can be trained, including the way to approach teaching methods, the way to use and create teaching aids, and the deployment and assessment of topics.