To master scientific creativity, it is necessary to give students the 'right' to take the initiative.

To learn more about the implementation process of the project “Activitiespsychological counseling for studentsat Tan Ky High School - Current situation and solutions", Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with the group of authors.

The group of authors won first prize in the Science and Technology Innovation Contest for high school students. Photo: Duc Anh

Confident because we are "with you"

PV:This is the first time Xuan Viet and Thuy Linh have participated in the Science and Technology Innovation Contest for high school students and won first prize with a topic in the field of social sciences and humanities. Why did they choose this topic?

Student Nguyen Xuan Viet:Topic "Activities"psychological counseling for studentsat Tan Ky High School - Current situation and solutions" was implemented by us in 6 months and there were many special things in the implementation process. Before that, the person who suggested and guided us to carry out this topic was teacher Dau Minh Nghia - teacher of Civic Education.

Student Nguyen Xuan Viet and teacher Dau Minh Nghia during class at Tan Ky High School. Photo: Duc Anh

In fact, when choosing this issue, both teachers and students thought very carefully about the topic, because consultation activities are a daily activity in schools. However, the effectiveness is not really as expected and is still heavy on formality. For example, in our school, through the survey, only 2.83% of students think that consultation activities at school are very effective, 10.01% think that they are effective, 36.31% think that they are not effective. Meanwhile, up to 50.85% of students think that they are not effective.

On the contrary, with this reality, the need for counseling of students is increasing day by day, because the current reality is that heavy pressure from society, family, school makes many students fall into a state of stress, fatigue, greatly affecting the learning process and psychology, physiology, many students fall into a deadlock, depression, despair, find it too difficult to study, in establishing and handling family and social relationships. From there, leading to negative, deviant, extreme behaviors and without timely intervention, their lives will easily fall into tragedy.

Photo: Duc Anh

PV:The issue of pressure in school is not a new one and I know that there have been many similar topics in previous competitions. So, how can you convince the judges about your project?

Student Nguyen Thuy Linh:I still remember when we started to develop the topic, teacher Dau Minh Nghia said that this topic was too broad and “beyond the scope” of high school students. Before that, instead of consulting, we chose to do the topic of “school counseling”, but he also affirmed that this was difficult to do, because to provide effective counseling, there must be a deep expert in a field. Even the teacher himself only provided academic counseling in the subject that he taught. By choosing the form of counseling, we were more confident, because it was a process of proactively detecting and helping students with psychological “crises” to overcome difficulties.

The group of authors distributed leaflets to survey students' opinions. Photo: Duc Anh

After 6 months of implementation, in the role of a consultant, we have planned and proposed many solutions to implement. The most memorable thing is probably being trusted by the school and being selected as a member of the school's advisory team. In particular, Viet was chosen to consult on skills education, cultural behavior measures, anti-violence, abuse and building a safe, healthy and friendly educational environment and he was chosen to consult on enhancing the ability to cope with problems arising in family relationships, teachers, friends and other social relationships. Initially, when bringing students into the advisory team, many teachers were also worried that we would have difficulty performing the task, but in fact we also have our own advantages, such as being the same age so we can grasp the psychology and thinking of school-age children, knowing why students are bored in studying... and from there we will give our own perspectives to advise students and parents.

Photo: Duc Anh

To implement the project, we also organized a survey and designed a ballot box for “what I want to say”. Every day, we will open the ballot box, count the votes, classify the consultation areas, directly or invite members of the advisory team who are teachers in charge of the assigned areas to conduct assessments through observation, preliminary interviews and sometimes can be assessed by in-depth psychological tests at school or at independent units. The results of this assessment will help us determine the priority level of each issue and decide on the form of support such as private counseling with students, counseling with parents... Not only working in the school counseling room, we have also established a school counseling club “accompanying you” to have more opportunities to share and accompany students with psychological problems...

More than half a year of consulting activities was also the time for us to summarize and come up with ideas to implement our project. The numbers and observations that we summarized in the project were also the results that we recorded from our daily activities and perhaps that convinced the judges.

Must put students first

PV:As a teacher of Civic Education, his first project was related to mechanical engineering and then to Information Technology, which were not his strengths. What made him passionate about this activity?

Teacher Dau Minh Nghia:I have been on the podium for nearly 20 years and like many other teachers, I am still very concerned about my job. Therefore, when the Education sector launched the Science and Technology Innovation Competition, I was very excited. However, it is very difficult to start guiding a project. The most difficult part is the idea, because in special areas far from the center like ours, it is difficult to find supporting experts. Besides, the funding source is also very limited and not always supported by all students. For example, in this project, at first I guided students to distribute survey forms but many students were indifferent. However, I am a person who is very passionate about scientific research and that helps us overcome difficulties and gradually implement our projects. Participating in projects also makes me more mature because it forces me to always think, find new things and especially during the project implementation process, the interaction between teachers and students will create a close relationship and help me connect and get closer to them.

PV:This is the fourth time you have directly guided students to implement projects to participate in the Science and Technology Innovation Competition. In the last two years, you have chosen school issues with many stories revolving around the lives and psychology of students today. What made you ponder during the project implementation process?

Teacher Nguyen Dau Nghia is a Civic Education teacher but is very lucky to have guided students to win prizes in competitions four times. Photo: Duc Anh

Teacher Dau Minh Nghia:One of the processes of the students when carrying out the project was to distribute survey forms to students to learn about psychological manifestations at school age. The results of the survey of 150 students in all 3 grades made me think a lot, because the number of students with severe and very severe negative psychological manifestations was relatively high, accounting for 11.33%. This is an alarming number. In addition, the number of students who lost interest in studying also accounted for a high percentage, up to 15.33%.

Photo: Duc Anh

After many years of working as a school counselor, I am quite worried that I am currently under a lot of pressure, from my family, parents and my own studies. Personally, teachers should not focus too much on competition and scores so as not to put pressure on students. It is worrying that there are students who are good at studying, but because they are under too much expectation from their parents, it leads to depression and poor academic performance. From this reality, we want to have a solution to detect students' negative thoughts early and guide them to extracurricular activities, play and make them excited about studying.

We have recently talked about the concept of happy schools. For me, to achieve that, students should consider the school as their home, where teachers are like fathers and mothers who listen to students’ thoughts and aspirations and see students as their own children. I also hope that there will be more creative experiential activities, more playgrounds, and the launch of art, physical education, and sports movements to help students look forward to going to school.

PV:Regarding creative activities and scientific research in schools, there have been many opposing opinions recently. Among them, there are opinions that calling the project a student's project but behind it are the works of teachers. Do you personally agree with this opinion?

The authors consulted teachers. Photo: Duc Anh

Teacher Dau Minh Nghia:I have heard about this problem and it may still be the case somewhere. However, in the projects I implement, I always put students first and I will give them the initiative. For example, I know about this problem, but I will not do it and I will ask open-ended questions for students to explore and research on their own and during the implementation process, teachers and students will have frank discussions.

Of course, to make a project successful is not simple. Therefore, first of all, the teacher must find a source of students, find students who like to explore, discover and have a passion for scientific research. In addition, he must have the support and interest of the school board, the support of the family both spiritually and materially, and have the advice and support of colleagues.

Teacher Nguyen Dau Nghia and his students. Photo: Duc Anh

PV:Thank you to the author group and teacher Dau Minh Nghia!