The aim of this research study is to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of innovative use of an open-source digital technology, Arduino, which is an information and communications technology (ICT) tool for practical work in physics in the senior secondary curriculum. The study also seeks to ascertain factors affecting the effective use of the technology in students’ learning of physics with a view to informing possible extensive use of the Arduino technology in senior secondary science education and its application to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. The importance of harnessing ICT in education is well recognized in the education arena. Educators have viewed ICT as an enabling tool for higher levels of analysis to take place in science teaching and learning. However, the use of technology does not guarantee meaningful and effective learning. What is crucial is the transformative, appropriate use of ICT to enhance students’ learning. In this regard, proper integration of ICT into the curriculum, or even across disciplines in the context of STEM education, for meaningful study is an area of concern. While ICT integration has been advocated for many years in the senior secondary physics curriculum in Hong Kong, there remains a gap in its holistic integration into the curriculum. This study demonstrates successful development of seven Arduino-based experiments and an entire set of courseware that covers a wide range of experiments in the topic of “mechanics” in the senior secondary physics curriculum. Design-based research (DBR) methodology is adopted in the development, which is characterized by rounds of systematic iteration, feedback gathering, and modification. The final outputs are encouraging for performing the series of experiments in “mechanics”. The study bridges the gap between theoretical framework and practical application in an authentic setting, and it informs of the suitability of DBR in developing ICT tools for

In Hong Kong, the coming New Senior Secondary Information and Communication Technology (NSS ICT) curriculum highly emphasizes the complex thinking processes like creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. In this paper, we attempt to use two detailed examples to illustrate how to infuse problem solving skills into computer lessons. It means that classroom time can be spent on the thinking skill as well as on the curriculum content.
[Copyright of ACM SIGCSE Bulletin is the property of Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education.]

Learning plays a key role in ageing societies as it can help to address many of the related challenges and opportunities. Opportunities to learn should be given to senior citizens through appropriate local lifelong learning programmes. There is a need to improve research and development on learning tools and approaches designed to meet the different needs of older people. ICT has an important role to play in developing learning opportunities for older people both as a topic in its own right and as a means of learning in the so called knowledge society. This paper reports on a Hong Kong case survey understanding the role of ICT in lifelong learning for elderly and its impact of learning activity. The survey results suggest numbers of areas should be taken into consideration for older people as both learners and mentors.
[Copyright of International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning is the property of Kassel University Press GmbH.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.online-journals.org/i-jet]

There is very little argument that one of the major developments to have impacted in schools in the past decade is the rapid and world-wide development of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly the Internet. In Hong Kong, reforms in the ICT teacher training policy, and the fact that Hong Kong is a 'wired' city, has resulted in pre-service teachers being well versed in the technical competencies of computer usage and its pedagogical manifestations. However, there has been scant attention paid to the fact that students are actively engaged in large-scale autonomous, teacher-less learning via the Internet. In this paper, it is argued that for teachers to be leaders in contemporary classrooms, teacher education programs need to focus more on the deeper and wider implications of ICT and the Internet in education than has hitherto been the practice.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2010.515938]