Information and communication technologies have been rapidly developing and are currently adopted in many aspects of people’s contemporary lives. With the goals to enhance students’ interest and motivation in learning as well as their academic performance, the field of education has also been attempting to utilize various forms of modern technologies in and outside of classrooms. Among different forms of technology, interactive technologies, such as AR technology, have been one of the fastest growing and most popular forms, owing to the high level of interaction and the brand-new experiences that can be provided. AR technologies provide the feature of 3D visualization of virtual objects which is highly applicable to high school education in geology and geography.This study explores using an AR sandbox, an AR technology device designed to help create topography models with sand. In real-time, augmentation can be done to visualize contour lines, simulated water, and elevations to help create physical features within the device. Current studies that explore the use of AR sandbox have focused mainly on the practical applications of the device in terms of design, execution, and implementation, and the effectiveness of the device in enhancing students’ learning performance and outcomes has rarely been studied. To measure students' performance, a pre-test and post-test assessment analysis, a questionnaire survey, and a semi-structured group interview were conducted to collect the relevant data. A total of 126 students from 7 local secondary schools were recruited to participate in the study. Students were randomly allocated to classes in two formats and two geographical topics, including a traditional class and an AR sandbox class to compare the traditional and interactive technology approaches in teaching. The two geographical topics were map reading and farming. To further understand how the device may improve students’ performance in class, the potential determinants of

Amid the imperative call for using digital artwork images and e-learning activities in planning and delivering the art curriculum heightened by rapid technological development and COVID-19, we propose a visual arts teacher–curator pedagogy and investigate its effectiveness in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools. The pedagogy is set out to empower visual arts teachers to assume the role of “digital museum curators” and to facilitate student learning using virtual exhibitions. Design-based research was the methodology adopted for the study. Six teachers and 331 students participated in the study in the 2021–2022 academic year. The study, which examined the effectiveness of the proposed pedagogy, revealed a substantial improvement in student learning, including (1) motivating students toward self-directed and active learning, (2) stimulating artmaking ideas and skills, and (3) enhancing students’ confidence through peer learning. Copyright © 2024 National Art Education Association.

In this article, we use the family resemblance approach as a framework to contribute to the debate about the similarities and differences between the constituent disciplines of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) and to explore the implications for education. The family resemblance approach has been used in science education in various ways, for instance, in teacher education and undergraduate teaching and as an analytical tool for examining science curricula and assessments. The relevant sense of application of the family resemblance approach for our purposes in this article is that it is a framework that has the potential to differentiate the disciplines underpinning STEAM. We explore the utility of the family resemblance approach for clarifying what is meant by the nature of STEAM and, subsequently, we elaborate on some practical examples drawn from a project conducted in Hong Kong with Year 7 (12–13-year-old) students to illustrate how the use of the family resemblance approach can help articulate a contrast of nature of science and the arts in school activities. Copyright © 2024 Sibel Erduran and Kason Ka Ching Cheung.

This study aims to investigate whether the flexible-learning approach may or may not foster student engagement in learning music history at the tertiary level. This approach provides students with a certain degree of autonomy in terms of deciding what to learn and how that learning should be assessed. Hence, it is highly learner-centred and deemed effective in cultivating students’ learning interests. The flexible-learning approach has received global attention in recent years, particularly in Europe, where both policymakers and teachers in higher education have borrowed it for the purposes of curriculum planning and course design. To determine the impact of the flexible-learning approach on music history education, this study employed a retrospective post-pre survey in order to measure students’ learning engagement. The results demonstrate that a flexible-learning approach can effectively enhance students’ motivation in learning, implying that a single music history course does not need to stick to the traditional linear design, but should provide multiple trajectories for students to learn according to their interests and abilities. Copyright © 2023 The Education University of Hong Kong.

Arts and Creativity is one learning area of Hong Kong’s official kindergarten curriculum framework. Kindergarten teachers are expected to foster children’s creativity via four art forms: music, visual arts, dance, and drama. However, prior studies have investigated the provision of activities for each of the art forms in isolation and have not explored the demographic variables that predict teachers’ provision of arts education activities. Investigating the provision of the four art forms and its relationship with teachers’ demographics could provide an overview of the status of arts education in Hong Kong kindergartens. We had two research goals: (1) investigate the frequency with which kindergarten teachers conduct arts education activities focusing on music, visual arts, dance, and drama; (2) identify subgroups of teachers who differ regarding the provision of arts education activities and analyze how key demographic variables predict their memberships to these subgroups. We surveyed 477 teachers. Descriptive statistics, latent profile analysis, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were performed. We found that the presence of the four art forms was unbalanced. Participants reported conducting music and visual arts activities frequently, while dance and drama activities were occasionally or rarely conducted. Moreover, we identified three subgroups of teachers who provided arts education activities with different frequencies. Participants with a master’s degree and those who worked in government-funded kindergartens were more likely to be in the highest arts provision group. Findings suggest that the curriculum is not being implemented accurately, as teachers do not equally expose children to the four art forms. We interpret these findings as a reflection of teachers’ uneven preparation in the various art forms. Implications for educational policy regarding professional development are discussed. Copyright © 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

In Hong Kong, quality assessors from the Education Bureau (EDB) visit kindergartens to conduct Quality Review (QR) assessments. Their written reports, therefore, reflect the official local perspective of quality kindergarten education. We conducted a content analysis of 323 QR reports focusing on the positive and negative feedback and recommendations for improvement regarding music education. Two coding schemes were developed using an inductive approach. High inter-reliability was obtained. The most frequently mentioned positive feedback codes were related to sufficient exposure to music and enjoyable musical learning experiences. In contrast, there were negative feedback codes pointing out that children’s musical exposure was insufficient at Kindergarten 3 (children aged 5–6 years), and some musical activities were poorly prepared and/or designed. Children’s music learning outcomes were rarely mentioned in the reports. The analyses indicate that the local understanding of kindergarten music education strongly emphasizes exposing children to enjoyable musical activities, with a lower focus on the nature and quality of musical learning. We conclude that the QR reports reflect a teacher-centric view of music education. Findings may inform curriculum designers and teacher educators about EDB’s expectations in the area of music education. Future research should explore the perspectives of other kindergarten stakeholders such as teachers, principals, and teacher educators. Copyright © 2024 by the authors.

古人讀書歷來文史哲不分家。通曉文學、歷史、哲學，有人為求功名利祿，也有人藉此修養身心。文史哲知識的融合，能表現個人的學養、文采、思想和立場。現代社會分工精細，中學教育已經文史分科，語文、文學、歷史均各自成科，儼如互不相干。分科的優點固然能令各個科目的教學更加聚焦，但分立的如果是選修科，而學校選擇不開辦的話，學生就難免錯過學習專科的機會，香港的中學中國歷史科正是一個典型例子。學生無緣學習中國歷史，也會減少對中華文化的認識，連帶削弱語文素養。 為促進香港學生對國情和中華文化的認識，教育局在2018/19學年落實中國歷史成為初中的獨立必修科，並於2020年9月從中一級開始逐級推行。雖然如此，中國歷史時代久遠，課程涵蓋面廣，而學校教時有限，教學無疑極具挑戰。如何能把握教學機遇，引起學生學習歷史的興趣，同時提升學生的語文及文化素養，值得教育同行深思。 在新課程的指引下，當局強調通過多元化的策略推動中國歷史教學，鼓勵教師按「政治演變」、「文化特色」及「香港發展」等主題，調適教學內容，以照顧學習差異。同時，新編的中國歷史教材陸續推出，可以反映新課程的精神能否體現。 從文史不分家的角度出發，本文將以新編的中國歷史教材為例，剖析新修訂的歷史科學習內容在字詞、文句及通篇層面的專科語文運用特色，並評價學習歷史對提升語文素養的現實意義。 Copyright © 2022 香港教育大學中國語言學系.