National STEM Festival: A Journey of Inspiration and Perception Change

Over the past 8 years, the National STEM Festivals have played a crucial role in changing the perception of many teachers and educational administrators, while helping them overcome professional barriers. This is also the most important aspect for inspiring and empowering them to promote STEM education under various challenging conditions, particularly in rural and highland areas.

In May 2015, to celebrate Vietnam’s Science and Technology Day, the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology at that time, Mr. Nguyen Quan, assigned the Tia Sang magazine with the task of organizing the first National STEM Festival at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, using a socialized approach and calling for voluntary contributions from organizations and individuals to create a new playground for students and teachers. Since then, hundreds of STEM Festivals of various scales have taken place across the country, with the following main objectives:

1- Communication to create community awareness about STEM education;
2- Connecting the community within the STEM education ecosystem;
3- Exchanging, learning, and sharing experiences.
National STEM Day, in particular, plays a role as a model for local STEM events.

The first National STEM Day was organized quite simply, without setting too high demands for exhibition content, experiences, performances, seminars, or competitions, to ensure that everyone can participate and the event becomes more enjoyable with a larger number of participants.

The National STEM Day in 2015 attracted thousands of children who directly participated in classes or games. Source: KH&PT

Over 20 exhibition booths and experiential STEM classes for around 2,400 students were organized over the course of 2 days, with 8 sessions, each lasting about 2 periods. Nearly all of the exhibitions and classes were contributed by educational promotion organizations or STEM-focused companies, based on learning and experiences mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom. Tạ Quang Bửu Middle and High School (Hanoi) was the only representative from participating schools to exhibit STEM education products that utilize recycled materials.

During the National STEM Day in 2015, there were only around 60 teachers and students from two districts, Thái Thụy in Thái Bình province and Nam Trực in Nam Định province, who participated in the experiential learning activities. They were the first representatives from rural areas. However, after this event, several localities invited the STEM Alliance to provide training for teachers at the district level in multiple different sessions.

The results of the training sessions were clearly reflected in the STEM Day event held in Hà Giang in November 2017. At that time, approximately 100 teachers and administrators from various locations, including Thanh Chương (Nghệ An), Nam Trực (Nam Định), Hạ Long City (Quảng Ninh), and some districts in Hanoi, volunteered to assist Hà Giang in organizing two STEM Days in Bắc Quang District and Hà Giang City. The majority of the exhibition booths and experiential STEM classes during these two events were conducted by teachers who had received STEM training in 2016 and 2017.

In 2018, there was a significant turning point as the districts of Nam Trực and Thanh Chương actively contributed to the National STEM Day with diverse and rich content. They showcased exhibition areas, conducted robot programming classes, provided hands-on experiences with programming robots, and participated in panel discussions and seminars.

In the same year, both districts, Nam Trực and Thanh Chương, confidently organized local STEM Days and robot programming competitions. These events attracted thousands of students and teachers who directly experienced the activities. This demonstrates that they were on par with the National STEM Day event in Hanoi and showcased the growth and success of STEM initiatives at the local level.

The recreation of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu using remotely controlled robot vehicles by Be Van Dan Primary School in Dien Bien City at the 2019 National STEM Day event was a remarkable achievement. This result was produced by the teachers after undergoing two days of training provided by the STEM Alliance. Photo credit: Ngô Hà/KH&PT

In the 2019 National STEM Day event, in addition to representatives from Lao Cai and Dien Bien, there were experiential programming classes for students from Hanoi. Moreover, there were also numerous presentations and discussions on various approaches to promoting STEM education in different localities. These discussions included valuable insights and lessons learned from rural and highland areas.