Mathematical disagreements occur when students challenge each other’s ideas related to a mathematical concept. In this research, we examined Hong Kong and U.S. elementary teachers’ perceptions of mathematical disagreements and their resolutions using a video-stimulated survey. Participants were directed to give particular attention to the mathematics embedded within the disagreement and approaches for resolving the disagreement. Results revealed incomplete knowledge structures for the SELECTed mathematical topic for both Hong Kong and U.S. participants. Differences existed between the two groups regarding the resolution of the disagreement, as Hong Kong participants focused on the content within the resolution process while U.S. participants focused on the form of the resolution process. Both groups found value in mathematical disagreements but for different reasons. Hong Kong participants indicated that the mathematical disagreements supported them in identifying students’ misunderstandings. In contrast, U.S. participants reported that mathematical disagreements helped to identify areas in which students lacked prerequisite knowledge. Implications for future work are provided. Copyright © 2016 International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology.

The benefits of parental involvement in children’s education have been well established but increasing evidence suggests that overparenting may have adverse effects on children. The question of whether excessive parental involvement hinders children’s academic and psychosocial development warrants further investigations. This study examined the associations of parental educational involvement at home and in school with academic performance and psychological health of 507 Chinese Grade 3 schoolchildren in Hong Kong. Parents reported on their level of involvement in children’s schooling and their children’s psychosocial issues. Children were surveyed to determine their school engagement, and their Chinese language and mathematics attainment was assessed. We also explored the underlying mechanism by testing children’s engagement with school as a mediator of the relationships. Our results showed that home-based parental educational involvement was positively associated with children’s language competence and psychosocial wellbeing, and the associations were linked through engaging children with school. However, the benefits reached a plateau at higher level of parental involvement in children’s learning at home. School-based parental involvement had an indirect effect on children’s prosocial behavior through school engagement. These findings highlight the significance of optimal level of parental involvement in children’s education at home for children’s development.
[Copyright of Journal of Child and Family Studies is the property of Springer Science & Business Media. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-1011-2]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using mobile devices for promoting subject learning in school education. A total of 43 Chinese students from two Primary 4 classes in a primary school in Hong Kong participated in this study. One class was randomly assigned as the experimental class, while the other class as the control class. Students in the experimental class used mobile devices to learn about perimeter of polygons while those in the control class learned the same topic with paper-based materials. The results of pre-test and post-test show that students in the experimental class achieved a significant improvement in their learning performance. Furthermore, the responses from student interview indicate that students in the experimental class were generally satisfied with classroom learning with mobile devices because of two reasons: i) an increased level of student control, and ii) an enhanced communication between peers and between the teacher and students. These findings reveal the pedagogical potential of mobile devices to promote deep learning through classroom-based dialogic interaction in class time.
[Copyright © 2012 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.]

Chinese pre-school children perform well in learning mathematics compared with English-speaking children. This study investigates the scenes behind Chinese pre-school Children's mathematics performance using teacher questionnaires and interviews. Results indicated that the Chinese number system appeared to afford advantages to Chinese children in learning individual mathematics concepts but this was not enough to explain why children perform well in other areas. Frequent practice and exposure to mathematics in pre-schools, together with parental support at home might explain why children performed well in mathematics learning. Study results also revealed that although the underpinning philosophy of pre-school curriculum planning in Hong Kong might be similar to some pre-schools in other parts of the world, such as the adoption of integrated curriculum and unstructured play, contradictory practice might also be incorporated. Mathematics teaching in Hong Kong pre-schools mirrors the Chinese cultural aspiration towards learning, and both teachers and parents play an active role in pursuing academic success for each child.
[Copyright © University of Exeter. Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching].

Mathematics is widely perceived as an abstract subject to learn. However, information technology can be used as a tool for enhancing the students' understanding of the abstract concepts behind and also arousing their interest in learning a variety of topics of mathematics. This paper reports the design and implementation of Java and Flash programs for teaching and learning elementary number theory in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Illustrative examples with screen dumps for topics such as Greatest Common Divisors, Eratosthenes Sieve, Prime Number Distributions and the Chinese Remainder Theorem will be provided.
[Copyright © 2001 The Association for Advancement of Computing in Education.]

This study aimed to model mathematics growth of students from Primary 3 to Secondary 3 from two approaches, namely, growth in content domains, and in cognitive domains. The sample consisted of 866 Hong Kong students who were followed longitudinally from Primary 3 to Secondary 3. The data were originally collected by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong. Plausible values of achievements at Primary 3, Primary 6, and Secondary 3 in three cognitive domains (Knowing, Applying, and Reasoning) were obtained using between-item multidimensional Rasch partial credit modelling. A modified autoregressive cross-lagged design was used to predict later achievement in the cognitive domains by prior achievements in these domains. Analysis was repeated for growth in content domains (Number, Shape and Space, Measures, Data Handling, and Algebra). Analysis showed that students' later mathematics achievement was strongly predicted by their previous achievement in the Knowing and the Number domains.
[Copyright © 2014 Education Bureau, HKSARG.]