APT JSO Brunei 2012: Nurture the Science Dream for Young Amsers

Post by: Mai Thành Sơn | 24/06/2012 | 10408 reads

After the 6^th ASEAN ministerial meeting of Science and Technology on 17/12/2010 at Krabi, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam was nominated to hold a contest in the search of young gifted students within the ASEAN +3 region (8 ASEAN countries participated including this year’s host Brunei, Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; Vietnam and three guests, which were Korea, China and Sweden). APT JSO competition is regarded as Asian version of IJSO (International Junior Science Olympiad) for Asian students, and this is the very first Olympiad competition for students specializing in natural science. This competition was held by the Special Education Unit, affiliated by the Ministry of Brunei, Brunei University, under the control of ASEAN +3 Training Centre for young talented scientists, Korea

The aim is to support, enhance the ability of students in the field of Science and Technology; boost the curiosity of students through a range of experiences, practical experiments; build friendship and an interactive network among students specializing in Natural Science in the ASEAN +3 region; encourage students to pursue Science and Technology career. The topic of this year’s competition is “Science and Dynamics of Tropical Forests” taking place in the capital of Brunei - Bandar Seri Begawan. Accordingly, each country was required to bring 2 teams: each team contained 3 students and 1 accompanying teacher. Students must be at the age of 13-15 and teachers must be teaching a science subject at least. Attending this year APT JSO, Vietnamese delegation consisted of 8 outstanding members: 2 teachers were Mr. Nguyễn Xuân Quang (Physics Teacher) and Mr. Mai Thành Sơn (English Teacher) with 6 students from 8C class: Dư Gia Khải, Ngô Xuân Công, Lê Minh, Cao Minh Thắng, Nguyễn Phương Linh, Lê Phương Anh. 1 day after the opening ceremony on 11/6, Vietnamese students and teachers must attend different sections.

Delegates of Vietnam (from left to right): Mr. Nguyễn Xuân Quang, Cao Minh Thắng, Ngô Xuân Công, Dư Gia Khải, Lê Phương Anh, Nguyễn Phương Linh, Lê Minh and Mr. Mai Thành Sơn

As for teachers, the organizing committee required representatives from each country to present 2 topics: one was displayed in the form of slide show with the topic: “Best Practices within Science Education in Your Country”, and the other was displayed in that of poster with the topic: “Current Initiatives and Future Plans for Gifted Students in your country”. After 2 convincing presentations, Vietnamese delegation received high accolades from the organizers for having clearly pinpointed the problem, given various solutions to promote the education of Science for countries in the ASEAN +3 region such as: creating a website to teach General Science for student community to raise questions so that teachers can help and share their lectures or lesson plans; or building a training centers to train Science teaching faculty….

The presentation of Mr. Mai Thành Sơn

As for students, delegates of Vietnam was divided into 2 teams: one team involves Lê Phương Anh, Lê Minh, Nguyễn Phương Linh; and the other features Dư Gia Khải, Ngô Xuân Công, Cao Minh Thắng competing in 3 fields: Physics, Chemistry (judgment based on experimenting skills and writing skills) and Biology. In Biology, students had to join a Field Trip to observe and take samples in the jungle to write a report to give a presentation in front of other teams as well as the organizers. After 6 days of hard work, Vietnamese delegation obtained some creditable achievements: 8 medals involving 3 golden medals for Lê Phương Anh, Lê Minh, Nguyễn Phương Linh group; 3 silver medals for Dư Gia Khải, Ngô Xuân Công, Cao Minh Thắng group in practicing Chemistry experiments; 1 silver medal for Cao Minh Thắng and 1 bronze medal for Lê Phương Anh for their salient reports after the Field Trip. Although the overall golden medal for delegation goes to the Philippines’’, the results and knowledge gained by the students are tremendously, mentally encouraging, helping promote the love of Science and make way for young students harboring the dream of becoming scientists in the future.