Vietnam – October 07, 2026 – QiBiEdu develops and applies ORCA—Observe, Research, Create, Articulate—to help children aged two to six explore Vietnam’s history, culture and heritage through observation, inquiry, creative activities and expression in their own words.
A question that begins with children
A child may recognize many international cartoon characters, but would that child recognize the patterns on a Đông Sơn bronze drum?
Children may know the castles of fairy tales, but have they ever stood before a picture of the Temple of Literature and wondered, “Why are the windows round?”
They may sing songs in many languages, but have they ever worked with clay to make pottery, observed a folk painting, explored patterns on traditional clothing, built a stilt house or told the story of a historic building in their own words?
These are questions that Dr. Nguyễn Diệu Hương, Chair of the Board of Directors of QiBi Group, and the QiBiEdu team of education specialists have considered while developing an early childhood education curriculum.
Dr. Nguyễn Diệu Hương, Chair of the Board of Directors of Qibi Montessori Education Group Joint Stock Company.
Behind these questions lies a deeper concern:
How can children encounter local history, culture and heritage from their earliest years—not through memorization, but through experiences suited to childhood?
With this aspiration, the QiBiEdu team began a research journey: finding ways to turn seemingly vast and distant subjects such as history, culture, fine arts and heritage into things young children can see, touch, question, explore, create and talk about.
This was also one of the foundations for the development and application of ORCA—Observe, Research, Create, Articulate—within the QiBiEdu education ecosystem.
“Simply telling children about it may not be enough”
The musical “Vietnam the mighty”: 4,000 years of history with 300 preschool performers
For Dr. Nguyễn Diệu Hương, the story begins with an observation closely connected to educational practice. Children today grow up in an open world.
From a very young age, they encounter images, music, characters and cultural products from many countries. This gives children opportunities to broaden their understanding of the world.
But alongside this opportunity comes a question: As children become global citizens, how much will they understand about the place where they were born?
“We do not want children to learn about culture by memorizing the name of a heritage site or object. We hope a child can see it, become curious about it, try making something inspired by it and, finally, talk independently about what they have just discovered.”
This aspiration gradually shaped the QiBiEdu team’s research: bringing heritage closer to young children through the language of childhood itself.
But this is no simple challenge. History contains many abstract concepts. Culture encompasses a vast range of subjects. Artistic heritage holds layers of meaning that even adults need time to understand. Oversimplification can strip away cultural value. Yet presenting the material unchanged, as one would to adults, puts it beyond the reach of preschool children. The research team’s question therefore shifted from “How much knowledge will we teach children?” to:
“How can a child aged two to six truly experience and come to love these values?”
A team searching for answers together
Starting with Dr. Nguyễn Diệu Hương’s original question, a group of education administrators, specialists and teachers within the QiBiEdu ecosystem joined the research and curriculum development process.
They include Nguyễn Thị Thùy, Nguyễn Mai Duyên, Nguyễn Thị Vân and Nguyễn Văn An, all of whom hold master’s degrees, as well as Nhat Nguyen, Thanh Trang, Anh Thu and other members of QiBiEdu’s specialist team.
The QiBiEdu team at the 2026 exhibition on modern early childhood education
Each approaches the challenge from a different perspective: educational management, teacher training, curriculum development, art, activity organization and firsthand experience in preschool classrooms.
The team began with a principle: Do not shrink an adult lecture and present it to young children. Instead, each topic must become a journey of discovery. A bronze drum should not be introduced solely by its name and date. Children need to look closely at its lines and patterns. The roof of a communal house should not be merely a photograph for the teacher to introduce. Children need to observe the roof, structure and materials, and try to discover why people built it that way.
A folk painting is not something for children to copy. They can observe its colors, figures, lines and story, then draw on that inspiration to create artwork of their own. Exploring a historic building does not have to begin with the year it was built. It can begin with a detail that arouses a child’s curiosity. Through a series of such trials, the team gradually developed a sequence: Observe → Explore → Create → Articulate.
And this sequence developed into ORCA.
ORCA—helping children “touch” knowledge
ORCA stands for four steps:
O – Observe: Look closelyR – Research: Explore and investigateC – Create: Make something newA – Articulate: Express and explain
The four steps of the ORCA method: Observe – Research – Create – Articulate.
What makes ORCA distinctive is not how much information children receive, but how they arrive at understanding.
OBSERVE—First, look closely
An ORCA journey does not necessarily begin with a teacher’s explanation.
This journey can begin with a ceramic vase, a lotus flower, a Đông Hồ folk painting, a pattern on a bronze drum, the roof of a communal house, an áo dài or a model of a building that has stood for hundreds of years. The more authentic the experience, the better. AI technology can support the recreation of buildings and stories in multidimensional spaces, helping to spark children’s interest in what they see.
The teacher asks: What can you see? What catches your attention most?
Before learning its name, children learn to OBSERVE.
RESEARCH—From seeing to wanting to understand
Observation leads to questions. Why? How? Who made it? What is it used for? Why did Vietnamese people create images like these? How was it made, and with what tools?
For preschool children, “research” does not mean academic research.
It is the process of seeking answers through conversation, images, stories, materials, experimentation, comparison and interaction with peers. Curiosity becomes the driving force of learning.
CREATE—From understanding to working with their hands
After observing and exploring, children begin to make something. One group might build a model stilt house. Another might create patterns inspired by bronze drums.
Children can make pottery, draw, sculpt, print, combine materials, design clothing, create pictures, build architectural models or prepare a simple traditional dish together.
Here, hands become a tool for thinking. Children do not copy heritage. They create something new from what they have just discovered about it.
The principle: children make their own choices, think for themselves and create for themselves.
ARTICULATE—And finally, tell your own story
ORCA does not end when the picture is finished. Children stand before their work and say:
“Our group observed…”
“We discovered…”
“We chose to make it this way because…”
“What I liked most about Vietnam in today’s lesson was…”
When a child can describe a discovery in their own words, knowledge is no longer simply something the teacher has just said. It has become the child’s own experience.
When history no longer lives only in books
QiBiEdu’s work at the STEAM exhibition: recreating famous historic buildings
One of the QiBi team’s important trials involves applying the ORCA approach to topics often considered difficult for preschool children, including history.
Instead of beginning with dates, children can begin with traces of history.
The Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long; Khuê Văn Các at the Temple of Literature; Trấn Quốc Pagoda; Ngọ Môn Gate at the Imperial City of Huế; Long Biên Bridge.
A building becomes a question. A question opens up a story. And the story leads to a creative activity.
Children observe architecture, identify shapes, explore functions, build models and introduce their group’s work. History is then no longer a series of facts to memorize.
Children begin to realize that the place where they live has a past.
When culture becomes something children can touch
Through ORCA, Vietnamese culture also becomes a set of very concrete experiences. An áo dài can become a journey of discovery about clothing.
Phở, fried spring rolls and other traditional dishes can give children opportunities to explore ingredients, flavors and culinary culture.
Stilt houses, communal houses and longhouses help children explore the relationship between architecture, nature and community.
Festivals, music, traditional crafts and familiar symbols open different doors through which children can enter the world of Vietnamese culture.
Children do not need to understand everything. But they can begin to sense that these things belong to the place where they are growing up.
From Vietnamese classrooms to a broader question about education rooted in local culture
The project’s aspiration goes beyond creating another set of teaching materials. Behind ORCA and QiBiEdu lies a broader question: In an increasingly globalized world, can education help children step out into the world while deepening their understanding of where they belong? This question is not for Vietnam alone. Every community has a history. Every land has its art. Every people has stories, architecture, clothing, music, food and memories to pass on.
QiBi developed ORCA in the Vietnamese context, but the thinking behind the method may open up a broader approach: let children begin with their own local culture. Observe, explore, create from what they discover and learn to talk about it.
Helping children not only learn about heritage, but grow up with it
There are many ways to preserve heritage. We can keep it in museums. Record it in books. Digitize it. Conserve buildings. But perhaps there is another way: Place heritage in the hands of a new generation.
When a child observes the patterns on a bronze drum and then creates a pattern of their own, a dialogue between past and present has begun.
When children look at the roof of a communal house, ask questions and build a small model with their friends, culture has stepped off the page.
When children touch clay, make a piece of pottery and proudly tell others about what they have just discovered, heritage gains a new memory.
This is also the aspiration that Dr. Nguyễn Diệu Hương and the QiBiEdu team of specialists are pursuing:
The aim is to find an appropriate way for the nation’s history, culture and art to enter the world of young children, without overwhelming them with adult knowledge.
QiBiEdu and ORCA are the bridge that can bring these journeys to more teachers and more classrooms. And behind the technology, the method and the learning materials, there remains a very simple aspiration:
For young children not only to know about their local cultural heritage, but to touch it, experience it and grow up with it.
About Us
Qibi Montessori Education Group Joint Stock Company is an education business in Vietnam, officially established in 2019. Its operations include the Qibi Montessori preschool system, the Qibi Academy teacher training institute and QibiEdu, a solution for managing educational programs and teaching practices in preschools. Qibi’s mission is to elevate early childhood education in Vietnam. Through research into early childhood education methods and models, the company continues to expand into new teaching content, bringing Vietnamese cultural heritage into preschool curricula. The ORCA model is the result of years of research by the Qibi team.
Media ContactCompany Name: Qibi Montessori Education Group Joint Stock CompanyContact Person: Nguyen Dieu Huong – Chair of the Board of DirectorsEmail: Send EmailPhone: 0937278253Country: VietnamWebsite: qibigroup.com
