Hands-on learning experiences

Vo Van Ky Junior High School, Nha Trang City has organized extra-curricular activities or field trips to improve teaching and learning.

 

The recent trip to Ninh Diem salt area, Nha Trang City has provided 9th-graders a chance to learn about salt production process; effects of salt and its use from local residents; and then try producing salt themselves. All students have become very interested in their chemistry lesson about salt after the field trip. Theory and practice in labs and reality have helped learners to understand more deeply what have been taught at school.

 

A school trip to Ponagar Temples.

 

“Our lessons become more interesting and easier to understand thanks to the field trip. I can also have a chance to contact salt farmers and thus I can understand more about their hardship as well as the value of labor,” says a student named Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huyen.

 

Specialized field trips have been also available for such subjects as literature, history and geography. 8th-graders have taken trips to many places of interest such as Phuong Sai Communal House, An Lac Temple (Phuong Sai Ward); Ponagar Temples, Hon Dung Martyr Cemetery, Doc Let Resort (Ninh Hoa Town), the family of Martyr Vo Van Ky, etc.

 

“My knowledge used to be mainly from books. The school trip has widened my knowledge and  I remember what I have learnt better. The representation in groups has also helped me to review my lessons effectively,” says Nguyen Tran Kathy, an 8th-grader.

 

The educational trips, first organized in September 2015 for the eighth- and ninth-graders, are designed to provide students with experiences outside their everyday activities, as well as improve life skills. The educational event has been advocated and supported by parents, according to Principal Dinh Thi Thu Thuy.

 

Detailed schedules and lessons plans are needed to assure the effectiveness of extracurricular trips. “The program is very practical and helpful. Besides knowledge, my child can experience hands-on learning and share difficulties with local residents,” says Nguyen Tan Dung, a 9th-grader’s father. “Field trips are going to be held for math, physics and technology classes with effort in teaching method innovation to raise learning quality, adds Teacher Dinh Thi Thu Thuy.

 

The field trips contribute to teaching and learning quality improvement. Vo Van Ky School has effectively promoted the purpose, adding variety and interest to lessons at school,” says Cao Dinh Trung, Deputy Chief of Nha Trang City of Education & Training.

 

Vinh Thanh

Translated by N.T