The Discovery Room helps children learn more about sex and gender equality. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -A Discovery Room with interesting and inspiring lessons, books and games forchildren aged 3-15 opened at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi on November23.
The new initiative seeks to equip children with many soft skills includingusing the Internet safely, preventing abduction, speaking out when being abusedand asking for help when bullied at school.
It will also provide children with knowledge on sex and gender equality.
Museum officials said they worked with experts over a year to get informationon the needs of teachers and students during the build up to the DiscoveryRoom.
“This provides students an opportunity to be actively involved in thelearning process,” said Michael Croft, UNESCO Representative in Vietnam.Explaining the Discovery Room’s motto, he quoted Benjamin Franklin: “Tellme and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”
“I believe this quote captures the spirit of the Discovery Room,” he said. “Thegoal was to create an interactive learning environment for students. The roomprovides an extension of a classroom to inspire curiosity, excitement andexploration through hands-on activities.
“What makes this discovery room unique is the desire to engage students insocial matters that are important, such as gender equality and gender relatedissues.”
The journey of discovery has been a collaborative process. The staff of themuseum, UNESCO representatives and volunteers have worked countless hourstogether to create an educational and inspiring room, he said.
“We each brought different strengths to the meeting table. From the beginning,I admired how the museum staff had an understanding on subjects of interest andimportance for local school children like sex education, and insisted onincluding such topics in the Discovery Room,” he said.
“Based on my professional and personal experiences, I shared different ways ofpresenting information that actively engages the students and leaves themwanting more.”
The museum has received documents, photos, books and videos from variousorganisations in Vietnam and the world. All the content at the Discovery Roomare presented in Vietnamese and English.
The room is open daily at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, 36 Ly Thuong Kiet street,Hanoi.-VNA
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