In this study, we assessed the general marine environmental knowledge and attitudes of university students from eight public universities in Hong Kong. The Ocean Literacy Framework and revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) were used as tools for questionnaire development. Data were collected via in-person and online surveys. An in-person survey was conducted at the university canteen from 16 May to 24 May 2017, and an online survey was conducted via email from 1 May to 31 May 2017. A structured questionnaire was provided to interested students from different levels of study and majors. Data obtained from these surveys were summarized based on participants’ correct answers in the general knowledge section and five-point Likert scaling for attitude statements. Results show that Hong Kong university students possess moderate marine environmental knowledge and pro-environmental attitudes. Knowledge scores significantly correlate with demographic variables, such as major of study, gender, institution, and parents’ education. Students’ pro-environmental attitudes are associated with different factors, including participation in various marine recreational activities, taking marine-related courses, and attachment to conservative marine initiatives. The study results have implications regarding the advancement of marine environmental knowledge and the pro-environmental attitudes of university students, such as mapping a well-structured pathway for disseminating marine environmental knowledge, curricular involvement, and the development of an integrated web resource. Copyright © 2023 by the authors.

This study takes a rarely employed learner's angle in examining how students are learning in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) classroom. Particularly, the study tapped into students' listening strategy use when comprehending the teacher input, a context that is underexplored for strategy research and yet highly important because teacher input predominates in the EMI classroom. An EMI class of Grade 11 Biology in Hong Kong was recruited. Through lesson observations and stimulated recall interviews with a purposively selected sample of eight students, a taxonomy of listening strategies in EMI was constructed. The taxonomy reveals the uniqueness of listening to the teacher in EMI context due to the non-existence of planning and prediction strategies, the identification of novel strategies, and the classification of content-mediated and language-mediated cognitive strategies. Factoring in students' linguistic knowledge and Biology achievement, the findings indicated the usefulness for students to deploy a range of language-mediated, content-mediated and metacognitive strategies in combination. This paper ends with implications for future research and pedagogy in order to make EMI learning and teaching more successful. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In the 21st century, financial literacy is an important survival skill. Empowering school children to make sensible financial decision-making has become essential. A financial competency framework (FCF) describes a set of essential financial competence (FC) elements that inform people with the financial knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and motivations to implement and assess their personal financial literacy, which is a solid means for coordinating financial education (FE) in schools. However, in Hong Kong, FE in schools is scattered across some subjects and insufficiently embeds the relevant FC elements listed in its FCF. Hence, this study first conducted a literature review on the importance of FE in schools and the use of FCF in school FE, and took Hong Kong as an illustrative example for reviewing the use of its FCF in the school curricula through curriculum mapping and suggested ways for advancing FE in schools. It was found that most FC elements are relevantly well mapped with various learning themes or subjects especially for the Self and Society learning theme in kindergarten, General Studies in primary subject, and four secondary subjects, including Life and Society, Technology Education, Life Planning Education and Career Guidance, and Business, Accounting and Financial Studies. These FC elements can be further coordinated with a school implementation guide, teacher training plan, and assessment tools to advance the FE in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2022 The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

A positive relation between English phoneme deletion skill, a measure of the theoretical construct phonological awareness (PHNA), and pronunciation accuracy (PRNA), the ability to read aloud correctly familiar English words, was found in 2 groups of Hong Kong high school students who learned English as a 2nd language. 81 7th graders and 72 10th graders were tested. The study identified 7 variables: CA, nonverbal intelligence, sight vocabulary, digit span, word span, phoneme deletion, and PRNA. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the interactions among the variables in predicting PRNA. Findings suggest that PHNA was predictive of PRNA for the 10th graders. The findings are discussed in light of the well-documented relation between PHNA and reading accuracy. Their implications for 2nd language education are also discussed. Copyright © 2016 APA, all rights reserved.

This study trialed a pedagogy of “To Play and Learn, To Inquire, To STEM and Code”. Supplementary with seven hands-on activity worksheets and 19 coding product templates and samples, the pedagogy was designed to expose students to the construction of electric circuits with Micro:bit in STEM classrooms for developing knowledge of electric circuits and problem-solving skills. The pedagogy was implemented as a 280-minute teaching in eight lessons for 23 selected Grade 5 classes, which involved 369 students from nine primary schools at Hong Kong. The results of pre-post-test validate the success of the pedagogy in students' statistically significant growth in all three topic-specific knowledge points. The results of questionnaire survey demonstrate the impact of the pedagogy on students' statistically significant growth in their awareness of and their confidence in applying the target problem-solving skills. The results of focus group interviews confirm that students were satisfied with the experiences and outcomes of the pedagogy in developing topic-specific knowledge and problem-solving skills. This study reveals that the pedagogy is well received by students; noticeably effective to enhance students' knowledge of electric circuits; and potential to promote their development of problem-solving skills. Future directions to extend the pedagogy for senior primary curriculum are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Current academic research bodies on STEM education focus on five perspectives of student ability enhancement, teacher training, curriculum integration, pedagogy and curricular implementation in intra-national/cross-national comparative studies. Noteworthy, there has been no comprehensive policy analysis of STEM education in secondary school curricula in Hong Kong. For STEM is not formally documented into school curricula and students mostly join inter-school and international STEM project competitions. International literature reveals that conceptions of STEM education are still fuzzy. In this paper, a 2 X 3 matrix is utilized to evaluate the extent of implementing STEM education in mainstream secondary schools in Hong Kong, and to envisage contextual difficulties and obstacles against STEM education. This paper then leads conceptual discussions on integrated approaches, draw policy implications and recommend further research agendas. Copyright © 2022 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Assessment is an important aspect of mathematics teaching and learning. This paper aims to explore Hong Kong mathematics teachers’ views on online assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data analysed is part of a larger project comprising an online survey and semi-structured interviews. This paper presents data from the survey responses of ninety-two teachers and from interviews of three teachers. Thematic data analysis is conducted, focusing on teachers’ views on assessment during online learning. Findings show that the forms of assessment that Hong Kong mathematics teachers conducted during the pandemic were similar to those from before the pandemic. They view online assessment mainly as assessment for and of online learning. This paper also discusses suggestions for online mathematics assessment. Copyright © 2022 left to the authors.

香港的中文作為第二語言教學的課程，除了由大專院校開辦的對外漢語課程及國際學校提供的中文課程外，還有近年備受關注的面向非華語學生（Non-Chinese Speaking Students）的中文課程。本文旨在評介香港非華語學生中文課程的實施狀況及其特色，通過對有關文獻及統計資料的考查與分析，探討當中的教學困境與對策。研究針對目前非華語學生中文教學在課程、評估及師資方面的不足展開論述，建議當局考慮從以下三方面加以改善：一、改革課程設置，重新審視對非華語學生的語文教育政策，積極考慮另設一個適應非華語學生學習需求的中文課程，與本地華裔學生的中文課程雙軌並行；二、優化評估機制，建立適用於香港本地的中文作為第二語言能力的評核基準，客觀反映非華語學生的中文學習進度和能力水平；三、加強校本支援及師資培訓，針對目前非華語學生中文教材不足、教師工作量大的情況，增撥資源加強校本專業支援，並與大學及研究機構合作，提供合適的教師培訓及開發教材資源等，以改善目前的教學困境，提升教學成果。In Hong Kong, there are mainly three kinds of curriculum in the field of teaching Chinese as a second language (TCSL), namely the Mandarin Chinese courses run by the tertiary institutions, Chinese curriculum offered by international schools, and the Chinese curriculum for the Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) students. Through the analysis of documentary materials and statistical data, this paper aims at giving an overview of and discussion on the historical background and development of Chinese curriculum for the NCS students, as well as to investigate the challenge and measures followed by its implementation. It reveals that there is still inadequacy of the on-going curriculum implementation process in the aspect of curriculum planning, assessment system and teacher’s training. The research proposes that the government should consider making improvement in the following ways: firstly, the government should have a review on the language education policy for the NCS students, re-consider to plan an independent Chinese curriculum which tailors to students’ specific learning needs; secondly, modification of the assessment system should be made, a new Chinese language proficiency test system designed for the NCS students is required in order to assess students’ learning progress and the actual level they have attained; thirdly, measures should be taken to give professional support for school teachers, encourage teachers to design NCS Chinese curriculum together with educational experts from tertiary institutions, hoping to reduce teacher’s workload