Published 3 scientific articles in prestigious international journals in 2024 alone. The teacher born in 1992 made an impression when, in addition to teaching in class, he also actively conducted scientific research and guided students to participate in competitions. From 2020 to 2024, Mr. Le Trong Duc published 6 scientific works, including 2 works in domestic journals and 4 works in prestigious international journals (SCIE, Scopus, ...). In 2024 alone, the young teacher had 3 articles in prestigious journals in the SCIE and ESCI categories. His research is the first steps, testing to help in the design and development of drugs to treat diabetes. The main research direction is the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds with α-glucosidase enzyme inhibitory activity (an enzyme that hydrolyzes starch into glucose). If the amount of glucose in the blood is too high and cannot enter the cells, it will lead to diabetes. Inhibiting this enzyme is one of the mechanisms to control blood sugar levels and the research direction of Dr. Duc is to develop drugs to treat diabetes.

Mr. Le Trong Duc, teacher at Hau Nghia High School, Long An province. Photo: NVCC

Pursuing scientific research also has a positive impact on the teacher's teaching process. "The more I research, the more I understand the nature of the problems, thereby complementing the teaching more deeply and intuitively. I can also teach students the skills of a scientific researcher, which are patience, logic...", said Mr. Duc. The teacher directly participated in the provincial "Startup Idea" contest and won first prize with the project "producing environmentally friendly hand soap from star gooseberry leaves". This project was voted by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and included in the 2019 Vietnam Golden Book of Creativity. He also guided students to participate in the project of producing hand sanitizer from antibacterial active ingredients of star gooseberry leaves and fruits. The project was applied and produced more than 2,000 liters of antibacterial hand sanitizer (with a 99.99% sterilization rate), used in two rounds of Covid-19 epidemic prevention (in schools, district offices, and field hospitals). In addition, Mr. Duc guided his students in three projects that won second prize at the provincial level and one project that won second prize at the national level in the annual science and technology competition for high school students. According to Mr. Duc, scientific research not only helps discover new things but is also a way for students to maximize their potential. "When doing scientific research, I see students grow significantly, not only in knowledge but also in thinking and problem-solving ability. That is the motivation that makes me love this job more," Mr. Duc said. Many effective teaching initiatives and solutions In teaching, Mr. Duc has many highly effective solutions and initiatives. Most notably, the initiative recognized by the Provincial People's Committee in 2024 on developing students' self-study of Chemistry through the "flipped classroom" model. Mr. Duc said that "flipped classroom" is a learning model with the goal of helping students be more proactive in acquiring knowledge. Instead of going to class and lecturing in the traditional way every day, he asks students to study the lesson through documents and videos in advance. When in class, instead of lecturing on theory, he spends a lot of time for students to present their understanding; answer their questions; discuss in groups, practice and guide them in solving exercises. "Through this way of learning, I see that it not only helps students acquire knowledge proactively but also trains their teamwork and problem-solving skills. When they do it themselves and practice, they will definitely remember it longer than if they just know what the teacher says," said Mr. Duc.

Students are encouraged by Mr. Duc to experience practice and creativity. In the photo, students design a mini fire extinguisher that releases CO2 gas to extinguish a fire in Chemistry. Photo: NVCC.

Teachers often let students do projects, thereby absorbing knowledge more naturally and easily. For example, when teaching about fire reactions, teachers let students make their own mini fire extinguishers. “Students are asked to find plastic bottles or nearby objects to make a model of a fire extinguisher. Then, I instruct them to add chemicals (for example, baking soda and vinegar) to create CO2 gas and extinguish the fire. I also ask students to present the design of a fire extinguisher to understand how the gas will escape after the reaction...”, teacher Duc shared. According to teacher Duc, by getting hands-on, students can give more positive feedback to teachers. “You can do it the way I instructed but create CO2 gas by another reaction and still put out the fire. When you do it many times and have a basis for argument, even if the solution is different from the instructions, I still take note. What I am happy about is that many groups of students have come up with different solutions, not too dependent on the teacher's instructions,” said Mr. Duc. With his professional capacity and prestige, he is also a member of the council that sets questions and scores the provincial-level excellent student exams every year. From 2020 to now, together with teachers in the school's Chemistry group, Mr. Duc has participated in teaching and training 21 students who won provincial-level excellent student awards. With his tireless efforts, Mr. Duc was honored as an "Outstanding Young Teacher" at the provincial and central levels in 2020; a Certificate of Merit from the Minister of Education and Training for outstanding achievements in student education in 2020; and an Outstanding Teacher in 2024.

Vietnamnet.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thay-giao-pho-thong-co-4-cong-trinh-khoa-hoc-tren-tap-chi-quoc-te-uy-tin-2354704.html