At The Dewey Schools, it is not difficult for parents to see the seminars or extra-curricular activities with diverse topics organized by our students themselves. With their inherent proactiveness, creativity and thanks to the enthusiastic instructions by the teachers, our students are allowed to develop themselves in the most comprehensive way.
On January 20th, in the Science class, class 5Chicago students organized a mini seminar on ‘Health and Human’ with the ‘Epidemic’ theme under their teacher’s instructions. The seminar focused on the epidemics that had serious impacts on humanity, on which our students have conducted a thorough research in the last quarter.
The seminar was led by two little MCs – Huy Dung and Nha Uyen. In order for the presentation to be smoothly delivered, our students were divided into 4 small groups. The group members worked hard in about 3 weeks to synthesize information, to prepare their slideshows and to rehearse speaking based on the tasks assigned to each member.
In order for our students to jot down their feedback, comments and questions for the presentations, everyone was handed an evaluation form. Filling out the evaluation form did not only help our students have a better understanding of other groups’ presentations but they would also gain more insightful knowledge.
Our students delivered 4 presentations about Plague, H1N1, Covid-19 and the dangerous diseases that have occured in the world. Each of the presentations provided the listeners with basic information about the causes, symptoms, transmission methods and the prevention of the diseases, etc. These presentations clearly reflected our students’ ability in perceiving knowledge, collecting and synthesizing information and having effective teamwork.
Especially, the presentation about Covid-19 mentioned the latest update on the complicated situation of this devastating epidemic worldwide. This was also the topic that received the most attention of the other groups due to the comprehensive statistics about the seriousness of the current epidemic.
Not stopping there, in the presentation about Covid-19, the teacher and students were surprised by the humane message that we should not discriminate against Covid-19 patients because catching Covid-19 is unwanted for everyone. The group members also mentioned the 5K rule (in Vietnamese) announced by the Ministry of Health, namely: ‘Face mask’, ‘Disinfection’, ‘Distance’, ‘No gathering’ and ‘Health declaration’
Learning by organizing a seminar, for the students in class 5Chicago, is an example for the effective learning method utilized by the school. All of the knowledge accumulated by our students originates from practical aspects of daily life. This method is directly connected to the educational philosophy of The Dewey Schools: ‘Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself’.