Of these, 5/19 teams in the secondary and primary categories won prizes, and 4 teams made it to the top 20 in the groups. The reporter had a conversation with Dr. Tran Viet Hung, co-founder of STEAM for Vietnam, about this tournament.

Reporter (PV): It can be said that VEX WORLDS 2023 with more than 30,000 students from more than 50 countries and 50 states across the United States is a fairly large-scale tournament in the world. Can you share the initial idea of ​​STEAM for Vietnam, the American Center (under the US Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam) and Hanoi University of Science and Technology when organizing this playground?

Dr. Tran Viet Hung.

Dr. Tran Viet Hung: Everyone knows how important STEAM education (abbreviation of the words: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) is because it is not only useful for people working in technology-related jobs but also helps train thinking very effectively, opening up students' potential. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg... were all introduced to technology and computers from a very early age. That way they have enough depth, are not afraid of anything and dare to dream big.

When instructing some Vietnamese students who are children of acquaintances, we realized that our students are very good. How can we help more students find shorter and more effective paths when approaching technology? STEAM for Vietnam is a non-profit organization established with the mission of promoting activities related to STEAM education in Vietnam through knowledge sharing. More than 500 of our experts and scientists have quietly contributed and created results with the desire to contribute to the development of the young generation of Vietnam, helping them to be exposed to the most modern technologies, equipping them with the most knowledge and guiding them to go the farthest.

PV: Robotics is just one of many STEAM activities. So why did STEAM for Vietnam choose a robotics competition for its support activities?

Dr. Tran Viet Hung: STEAM for Vietnam has 5 main activities, including: Teaching programming, painting, soft skills; robotics; opening technology libraries nationwide; training teachers with enough documents, lesson plans, finance; building a volunteer network. Robotics is an effective tool for teaching and learning STEAM because it is quite close to real life. For robots to work, it is necessary to apply a lot of knowledge at the same time. Robot design also trains students in technical thinking, learning many subjects at the same time and is also very engaging. In addition, when choosing the VEX IQ robot, we want Vietnamese students to learn like American students. More than just a subject, we also expect our students to experience like students in developed countries, so that students do not get caught up in the thought that our country is poor and must follow behind. We must always think of ourselves as them because if we are self-conscious, we will not go far.

Vietnam team at VEX WORLDS 2023. Photo: NGUYEN HANG

The 2023 VEX IQ Robotics National Championship held in Vietnam was very successful. The tournament had 162 registered teams with more than 700 contestants from 169 primary and secondary schools in 33 provinces and cities across the country. In the global arena, 19 teams representing Vietnam also surprisingly brought home 5 prizes. It is very encouraging to achieve this in the first season. This shows that Vietnamese students have a lot of potential and can go much further than we previously recognized. In particular, students in all regions of our country are the same, not just a few specific locations. The 3 Tay students and their teacher from the Cao Bang team made great efforts to overcome difficulties to reach the big playground and became a source of inspiration for students around the world. They tried very hard to get tickets to the US and until the last minute they still didn't know if they could afford the plane tickets, but they didn't give up and went to the US to complete the competition, improving their ranking from 1,187 to 183 in the world.

This tournament also showed us that Vietnamese students were very confident when communicating in English with other teams when participating in the competition (in the format of two teams playing together to win points). This is a very good sign for the future because for a long time, Vietnamese people have had a weakness when going abroad, often lacking confidence. The Vietnamese teams surprised international friends not only with their competitive spirit, but also with their confidence in communicating and introducing the country's culture to international friends.

PV : Besides the opportunity to compete, when coming to the US, what else do Vietnamese students gain, sir?

Dr. Tran Viet Hung: While many other countries' robot competition teams only compete in the robot competition and then return, Vietnamese teams get to visit many iconic locations in the world of technology such as NASA headquarters, Google, Stanford University... Our students have the opportunity to experience and broaden their horizons. Only by setting foot, touching and feeling can we see how big the sky is and how many opportunities there are. This not only gives children but also parents and teachers hope to have better strategies and actions for children.

PV: From this first organization, what experiences have STEAM for Vietnam drawn for the future?

Dr. Tran Viet Hung: I think the number one experience is dedicated teachers. The Cao Bang team has teacher Do Thi Huong Tra, the Gia Lai team has teacher Do Bach Khoa... They all want students to have many opportunities and are willing to do everything to give students more opportunities. It seems like they always push students to the limit.

To help more students access STEAM education, this summer, STEAM for Vietnam will promote the teacher training program by providing all teachers who register at the link: https://www.steamforvietnam.org to be trained under the cooperation program with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). Teachers participating in the program are like family members, receiving the best possible support, so that the quality is gradually improved, so that both teachers and students can benefit.

PV: Thank you very much!

  COMMUNITY (implementation)