During the coronavirus outbreaks, a policy of suspending school was implemented in Hong Kong, so that education occurred remotely, and precipitated the greater use of technology in home-based contexts. This mixed methods research project was guided by a model of teacher and student uses of technology named the passive-interactive-creative/replace-amplify-transform (PICRAT; Kimmons et al., 2020). We worked with 46 kindergarten teachers to design and implement STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) home learning inquiries during the period that school was suspended. Content analysis showed that these teachers used digital technologies to replace traditional learning scenarios, amplify the learning content, and create innovative content that had the potential to transform learning. However, many teachers still maintained a more passive orientated approach to teaching (eg, watch a video). In addition, few teachers adopted live streaming of schooling at this time, in part because of technological difficulties.Teachers also highlighted the challenges in learning with new technologies, including frequent technological difficulties, and being able to address children’s specific technological needs, as well as other factors in the home context. To address these challenges, the teachers highlighted the need for more technological support (eg, from their schools) to learn how to use the necessary technology more effectively to be able to support the creative design of learning activities. They also emphasized the importance of open communication between teachers, children, and parents in order to understand children’s needs more effectively and to facilitate exploration, creativity, and to engage in problem posing and solving. Copyright © 2024 by Information Age Publishing.
