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The multi-purpose learning table

* A multi-purpose desk for students to learn and do exercise

Seeing that students have to study more and more without paying attention to exercise, which results in their poor health and obesity, teacher Le Van Hiep from Ngo Quyen secondary school in Bao Vinh commune, Long Khanh town, has created a multi-purpose learning table to help students both learn and do exercise to improve their health.

Mr. Hiep said, although he was well prepared in theory as well as sketched out the model, he encountered many difficulties as he started working. The multi-purpose desk is different from other normal tables in the function of lighting for learners’ learning, so how to calculate to generate enough power to recharge the battery and use it in a few hours is really hard. After more than 1 month of research, a multi-purpose learning table was finally completed.

The solution for a learning table has a lot of functions that help learners to feel comfortable while learning and can help learners to do exercise with their whole body to improve their health and generate electricity as they do exercise and light up as they study without using civil electricity.

The table is 1.6 m long, 1 m wide, and 0.5 - 0.9 m high, and it is composed of parts: an iron table frame; a wooden table surface; a backrest chair used for training exercise doers’ back, belly, weight, and waist; an abdomen chair; foot exercise kit; and shaking hands to generate electricity.

“30 minutes of exercise cycling creates electricity for learning in about 3 hours, so it can be used even if there is a power cut. The table is usable for various ages because the seat can be adjusted higher and lower. The table can be disassembled and folded for movement”, said Hiep.

A multi-purpose learning table costs about VND4 million, which is much cheaper than the costs for a desk and exercise equipment, but it has a long-term use value and is convenient and easy to use.

Director of Dong Nai Department of Education and Training, Huynh Le Giang, said: “Over the past time, a lot of teachers at all school levels in the province have had many initiatives and practical innovations in teaching to contribute to increasing educational quality. In a modern education environment, teachers are supposed to constantly innovate and be more creative to improve their teaching activities and a teacher with a creative spirit will will able give an inspiration to many students.

*A black board that can automatically wipe itself and gather chalk dust.

To help teachers to teach more conveniently and easily, Mr. Ngo Quoc Toan, a teacher from Phu Huu primary school in Phu Huu commune in Nhon Trach district came up with the idea of making a number of tools that can assist teachers to draw complicated pictures on boards as well as integrating aid microphones and blue tooth speakers to help teachers explain their lessons. Also, this board can automatically wipe itself and gather chalk dust.

The board is made up of two parts. One is a blackboard whose two sides are fitted with an automatic board wipe sensor and a chalk drawing pen with an elastic spring that is designed based on the 3-axis movement mechanism of the CNC machine, and above it is a led screen clock showing time and a small pair of speakers.

The board has 3 functions: the first smart one is to clean up itself automatically with a device that can recognize which part of the board needs cleaning and automatically clean it up via pre-programmed sensors; the second one is to collect chalk dust and prevent it from being dispersed into the surrounding environment and affecting teachers and students’ health; and the third one is a device that can paint and draw any pictures, charts, graphs and so on with chalk or with marking pens to assist teachers with their teaching.

In addition, the board has a built-in blue tooth speaker, a teaching assistance microphone, and a LED clock that shows the time, date, temperature, humidity in classrooms.

Toan said, the board is simply designed, made, and implemented with easy-to-find materials and has a high level of aesthetics, but it does not consume much time, which helps to enhance creativeness. At present, the model is being widely used and applied in the teaching activities at schools.

This solution won the second runner-up prize at Dong Nai Science and Technology Innovation Contest 2018.

Duy Minh (T. Lien)