HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - Changes to teaching methods in HCM City haveachieved positive results in both teaching and learning and helpedto develop students’ creativity.

Nguyen Tran Quynh Phuong, a chemistry teacher at Nguyen Huu Huan HighSchool, Thu Duc district, has chosen the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineeringand Mathematics) educational method to teach her students in recent years.

She said the method helped equip her students with knowledge and skills in thefields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and applythe lessons in practice.

Accordingly, she designs 1-2 lessons for each class, and often uses the topicof recycling for her lessons.

Phuong said she had been teaching for nine years. In the first five years,she only used traditional teaching methods, so her students oftencomplained the lessons were boring.

As a result she tried using the STEM method to engage her studentsduring the lessons and inspire their creativity, she added.

The knowledge they learn can be applied in different areas.

For example, in 10th grade, the students did not know how tomanufacture certain products, but they did have very good ideas, she said.

However, teachers could continue guiding them in later grades so theycould develop their ideas into making a product, she said.

“The students' creativity is unlimited. Just give them theopportunity and they can do things that we could never imagine,” shesaid.

When teachers changed their teaching methods, they could see the changein students, she said.

Recently, she and her students carried out a project to produce paper andhandmade souvenirs from bagasse. The project was awarded first prize in the“Students with start-up ideas in 2020” contest by the city’s Education andTraining Department.

The idea for the project came from Luong Tam Nhu, a student in grade12A6.

Two years ago, when she was in one of Phuong's STEM lessons on recycledproducts, Nhu observed that bagasse was often disposed of by incineration,adversely affecting the environment and people's health.

After the lesson, Nhu came up with an idea to take advantage of bagasse to makepaper and handmade products.

The idea was realised with support from Phuong and a team of studentsfrom the school. Some 500 products such as paintings, notebooks, calendarsand cup holders made from bagasse sold out when the team presented themat exhibitions and fairs in the city.

Nhu said she could learn how to apply theory into practice through theSTEM lessons.

“Chemistry is no longer “dry” knowledge. It inspires us to apply theknowledge we’ve learned into practice and make products,” she said.

Besides, we also learned a lot of other skills like teamwork,market analysis and product promotion, she added.

Many schools in the city have encouraged their teachers to change their methodsto inspire creativity among students.

Cao Xuan Hung, vice principal of Ky Dong Primary School, District 3, said theschool always encouraged their teachers to actively seek and change theirteaching methods to inspire more creativity among students.

Pham Thai Ho, principal of Cu Chinh Lan Secondary School, Binh Thanh district,said the school often organised training courses for its teachers to improvetheir professional skills and share effective teaching methods.

Le Hong Son, director of the city’s Education and Training Department, saidteachers and managerial officers were the decisive factors for thesuccessful implementation of educational reforms and projects, meeting thedemand for high-quality human resources in the city.

The city’s education sector would hold training courses for over 90,000teachers and managerial officers to encourage creative thinking and effectiveteaching methods by 2025, he said.

Vice chairman of the city's People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc said teachersin the city needed to be equipped with more skills and modernteaching methods to show students how to self-learn like their peers in theregion and around the world.

This would be a key factor in determining the success of educationalreforms, he said./.