STEM robotics: The symbol of overcoming difficulties
Đỗ Hoàng Sơn 22/04/2023 07:35
Viet Nam has interacted with the STEM education system for over 15 years however, the concept of STEM was only familiarized after the 1st National STEM Festival in the summer of 2015 under the initiative of the “Ministry of Science and Technology” and the “STEM Alliance”
The following series of articles attempts to bring a panorama of STEM education in the public school system, especially STEM robotics with pieces of experience drawn from many localities
During a recent visit to Viet Nam, besides his important diplomatic work, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Ha Noi University of Science and Technology on April 15. Here, he viewed several technological products which use artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and air-purifying devices which were all designed by students and teachers of the school.
In particular, he watched over twenty Ha Noi students practice controlling the VEX IQ robot in preparation for the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas, USA. On the same day, during a press conference in the afternoon, he said that he was very impressed by the performance presented by the students.
VEX IQ is America’s number 1 educator in robotics with over 1500 robot components.
Even though these robot components might seem complex, it’s not as difficult as many people would think. As seen from the February 2023 National VEX Robotics Championship for students aged 12 and 15. In Viet Nam. 143 teams from 33 different provinces/cities registered to attend the event. 20 Teams qualified to participate in the VEX Robotics World Championship – This number is only behind the US, China, Australia, and the UK. Notably, nearly half the 20 best positions in Viet Nam belong to teams from rural and mountainous areas.
In this article, we would like to show you – the readers, how teams who come from the most strenuous background overcame their struggles to gain access to VEX IQ robots
Viet Nam has more than 700 district-level units, of which 74 districts are considered the least economically developed. Therefore, when students from Binh Gia (Lang Son), Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai), and Lang Chanh (Thanh Hoa) districts (a part of the 74 struggling districts) confidently participated in the Vex Robotics Championship, it came as big surprise for higher-ups and experts at STEM and even for their parents as these students have likely never had the chance to access robot programming
The common link between these districts is that there is a process of fostering the foundation of STEM education
Mu Cang Chai: Only half the field is enough for us to succeed!
Student from the Mu Cang Chai district (Yen Bai) during an exchange in the VEX IQ competition
in January of 2023
Which, Mu Cang Chai has successfully organized the STEM festival and KCbot robot programming (made in Viet Nam) twice with the participation of all 23 primary and secondary schools in the district. Just 3 months after being introduced to robot programming two schools in Mu Cang Chai district won the third prize at the Transformative Upland and Rural STEM Festival held in Than Uyen district, Lai Chau province in May 2022.
In early January 2023, experts from Kidscode Academy started a one-day training course on programming VEX IQ robots for students of the Ethnic Minority Boarding School in Mu Cang Chai district. Since then, students can practice more on their own through lectures available in VEX’s online learning resources.
To create favorable conditions for students to compete well, the district leader of Mu Cang Chai asked for half the modern training ground model from VEX IQ so students could test out their robots and practice their competition skills on the training grounds. The STEM Alliance had the idea to split a set of training grounds in half so that more teams could borrow the training ground. After more than a month of training, the team from Mu Cang Chai district confidently “joined the war” and ranked 64 out of 104 teams in the U15 at the 2023 National VEX IQ Robotics Championship.
Lang Chanh: used every chance we had!
Team of Lang Chanh district (Thanh Hoa) at the National Vex IQ Robotics Championship February 2023
Located near the Viet – Lao border area, once a war zone for Lam Son insurgent army, the place where General Le Lai bravely sacrificed himself to save King Le Loi, now is a district called Lang Chanh – a name quite foreign to even Vietnamese people. However, when the team qualified for the top 20 best teams in the U15 group during the Nation VEX IQ robotics championship, it made sure that their names would be remembered by all viewers over the world. They even almost made it to the US to attend the World Championship.
Due to the district’s poverty, Lang Chanh has saved every opportunity to access STEM education. In June 2022, Lang Chanh successfully organized the district’s first KCbot robot programming contest, after 5 secondary schools here were given 10 boxes of KCbot robots by former students, each box worth around 2 million VND. Because of its experience in organizing robot programming contests, Lang Chanh District’s “Education and Training” Department asked the STEM Alliance to borrow VEX IQ robots for students to test out.
After only one lesson from 15:30 to 23:00 with a coach sent by the STEM Alliance to help, teachers and students in Lang Chanh district began to practice day and night on their own – no help from the STEM coach, for a month to get the achievements mentioned above at the national competition. The team of Lang Chanh district was the only representative of Thanh Hoa province to participate and achieve high results at the national championship which made the people and the administration of Lang Chanh district believe that if accessible, digital transformation is not a problem.
Binh Gia: The lighthouse strategy
The team of Binh Gia district (Lang Son) at the National VEX IQ Robotics Championship February 2023
With two teams from To Hieu Secondary School and Hoang Van Thu Secondary School participating in the Nation VEX IQ Robotics Championship 2023 reaching 36th and 73rd out of the 104 U15 groups, Binh Gia district is proving its “lighthouse model” in implementing effective STEM education.
This model has inspired many different teams, it’s even possible to cite the case that Binh Gia High School trained VEX IQ robots for two middle schools – To Hieu and Hoang Van. Not only that, but Binh Gia High School also lends VEX IQ robots to Hoang Van Thu Secondary School to let them compete in many events.
Up to now, all high schools in the Binh Gia district have been able to access robot programming, and some schools have utilized this and tried to develop a virtual reality (VR). In addition to two sets of US VEX iQ robots which are worth more than $1,000, dozens of boxes of KCbot education robots have been donated by benefactors and former students, as to encourage the efforts and curiosity of teachers and students from Binh Gia.
VEX IQ is the world’s leading robotics education with a certain complexity, so the fact that students of these three districts confidently participated in the national championship showed that Vietnamese students have the capabilities to continue learning about robotics. Under the condition that STEM education and programmatic eradication are to be implemented by the “education and training” sector in each district. This programming approach will give many students the chance to learn about programming robots without spending large sums of money. Until now, more than a hundred high schools in highland and rural districts have tried out VEX VR – virtual robot technology for free such as Bao Thang. Si Ma Cai, Van Ban (Lao Cai); Van Quan, Bac Son, Binh Gia (Lang Son); Thai Thuy (Thai Binh); Bao Lam (Cao Bang); Than Uyen (Lai Chau). With this approach, schools do not need to invest in buying many real robots, but each school only needs to have one real robot to give students more interest in learning with the virtual robots.
(To be continued)
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