Recent educational research reveals that case studies can be applied in STEM education as a pedagogically powerful method for teaching scientific concepts and contents as well as science process skills. However, there exists very little research or literature on the instructional use of case study in STEM education in Hong Kong. Hence, a team of science educators and scientists initiated a collaborative project to investigate how feasible case study can be incorporated in STEM education. Over a period of seven months, we developed case teaching materials (including case story line with authentic data, worksheets for field trip and laboratory experiments, online/remote-controlled experiments, aerial movies filmed by drones and virtual reality videos etc.) for topics purposefully selected from (i) Hong Kong Wetland Park, (ii) two large sewage treatment plants/projects of the Drainage Services Department, and (iii) landfill gas used by the Town Gas company. This teaching approach was implemented in three different courses in our education university. A set of instrument for mixed research method was specifically developed or modified for collecting data on the learning effectiveness and feedback from a total of 115 students enrolled in the aforementioned three courses. Essential features of the case teaching materials and preliminary findings of the evaluation will be presented. The discussion on the difficulties encountered in the development and implementation stages as well as the direction for the future research and development work will be highlighted.

Aims: This paper was intended to explore the leadership practices of principals for knowledge management (KM) in the school context, and the influence of KM on the strategic planning (SP) capacity of school organizations to provide quality education for effectively coping with the challenges from education reforms. Methodology: A single-case study was conducted in a secondary school in Hong Kong. The school participated in a two-year QEF project for applying KM concepts and mechanism. In-depth interviews were conducted with the school principal, middle managers, and front-line teachers to investigate the leadership practices of the principal to implement KM in the school, and the influence of KM on the school's SP capacity for providing quality education. Results: Setting school direction for KM, developing teachers' skills and awareness for KM, creating supporting conditions and infrastructures for KM, aligning KM with the school's teaching and learning process, and building external coalitions for KM were found as the principal leadership practices for school KM. These practices could support the school in adopting the codification and personalization KM strategies and facilitate the acquisition, storage, and sharing of knowledge in the school. KM could help the school to effectively acquire, store, and share the knowledge for strategic analysis, choice, and implementation in the SP process, improving the school's SP capacity for providing quality education. Conclusion: Principal leadership has significant effect on the successful implementation of KM in the school context, which in turn plays an essential role on the school's SP capacity for providing quality education.

The New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum was launched among Hong Kong schools in 2009-10 school year. Under the NSS Curriculum framework, Other Learning Experiences (OLE), which requires students to participate in five areas of OLE, namely Moral and Civic Education, Community Service, Career-related Experiences, Aesthetic Development and Physical Development, is one of the three major components that complement the study of the four core subjects and 2-3 elective subjects for the whole person development of students. The study, mainly employing surveys together with mixed methods, aims to explore the impact of OLE, as a key curriculum component in the NSS curriculum, on students' approaches to learning. In 2010-11, two case study schools, with different features of OLE and with differing background characteristics were selected for a survey on students' approaches to learning over two school years. The survey, namely ‘Studying at School Inventory' (SASI) of 352 S4 students provides evidence of the impact of OLE with regard to learning approaches such as enhancing deep learning and effort. Although the results could not of themselves provide a warrant for a generalizable positive impact of OLE on students' approaches to learning and learning habits, it is reasonable to conclude that OLE has had a positive influence as indicated in policy documents, at the two case schools and in certain school contexts (e.g. year group, school culture, OLE leadership) and with regard to specific OLE component contexts (e.g. activity type, student motivation, pedagogy). The study illuminates the further study of OLE.

In response to the emerging challenges in the 21st century, there have been numerous education reforms worldwide in the last two decades. From the case of Hong Kong, this speech aims to address the key features and trends of education reform phenomenon commonly happening in different parts of the world. It will help international educators, policy-makers, researchers and change agents to understand the complicated dynamics and issues involved in the formulation and implementation of systemic reform, including (1) conflicts and diversities among stakeholders, (2) constraints with limited resources for reform initiatives, (3) knowledge poverty and ignorance in practice of reforms at different levels, (4) conflicts and time competitions among a wide range of parallel changes, and (5) paradigmatic gaps in planning and implementing reforms. Without addressing these issues, many education reforms with good intentions finally failed in “reform syndromes” and “bottle necks” in the last decades. This speech will draw global implications from the local lessons for future research and policy development on education reforms.

To maintain one's competitiveness edge in a global sense, we have observed a wide spread drive in various economies on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education at different levels of education. The emphasis on STEM education originates in the US back in the middle of last century, since then tremendous input of resources and efforts have been put into STEM education for its development and implementation. The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region highlighted Hong Kong's commitment to STEM education in his three successive Policy Address in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Echoing this high level commitment were the reports on STEM education published by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government and the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong. Given these, there is still a wide spectrum of views as to the “What” and “How” of STEM education among stakeholders. While hero cases of STEM education and learning resources have sprung up in the past few years, we yet have to see sufficient research evidence to shed lights on the ways to scale up the initiative. This speech will attempt to reflect on the global and local lessons on STEM education.

STEM（科學、科技、工程與數學）教育，是近年香港教育當局力推的教育項目，並由政府以專項撥款的形式支援學校推行（小學為十萬港元、中學為二十萬港元）。政府在 2015年發表諮詢文件，並且計劃在 2016 年起的三個學年，推出不同的項目以推行 STEM 教育。本文將以香港三所小學（浸信會天虹小學、天主教博智小學、慈幼英文學校）為例，透過他們推行 STEM 教育的經驗，檢視現時政策與學校實踐之間存在著什麼問題，並且以他們的經驗，嘗試為香港未來推行 STEM 教育提出建議，供各界參考。

The introduction of e-textbooks in elementary schools has attracted growing attention. However, whether the adoption of e-textbooks can bring meaningful learning experience and educational learning environment for elementary school learners is a concern for educators. This study explored elementary school students' perceptions and experiences of learning with a newly designed e-textbook named “Interactive General Studies” via iPads in the science classroom. A total of 15 pupils from 3 Hong Kong elementary schools were interviewed about their views on the usefulness and usability of the e-textbook after they learned it using a cognitive walkthrough technique. Results showed that the majority of the students preferred to use the e-textbook for it better facilitated students' interactions and collaborations and promoted their self-learning and self-assessment. Nevertheless, some indicated that they could not really learn about relevant science concepts through merely doing activities in the e-textbook without teachers' explanations. Some others reported that they encountered difficulties in using drawing, note-taking, or syncing tools, which may affect the effectiveness of the e-textbook on their learning. It is suggested that teachers may more directly scaffold students to discuss key science concepts while doing activities in the e-textbook. Moreover, teachers may provide explicit instruction for students to adopt the use of those tools to promote more effective use of e-textbooks for learning.

教育局於 2008/09 學年起開設高級小學學位教師職級，為小學副校長，其職責是要協助校長處理下列四方面工作：課程發展與管理，學與教及學生評估；全校參與的關顧輔導與學生支援；人力資源管理；學校管理、評估及發展。自職位設立後，本地學者和專業團體對副校長的專業成長有更多的關注和研究，基於早年研究發現人力管理是小學副校長常擔當的職責之一；香港初等教育研究學會其後進行小學副校長人事管理的調查，就副校長的職責、人事管理困難和持續發展需要作深入研究。此文將結合該調查數據和文獻資料，分析和討論香港小學副校長在人事管理的專業發展需要，並就相關在職培訓作出建議。

Objective: Developing student's critical thinking capacity has long become one of the fundamental aims in Hong Kong secondary school education sector. The aim of the proposed research was to investigate the influence of teachers' teaching strategies on the learning of students' critical thinking (CT). Method: A mixed-method research design was employed. Under the guidance and training from the research team, classroom interventions were undertaken in two rounds. Well established student survey was collected. Lesson observation tools were developed and used, measuring the teaching strategies adopted in class, and the changes of outcome variables such as classroom discourses and student higher-order thinking. Nearly 200 students from eight Liberal study (LS) classrooms, four secondary schools in Hong Kong, participated in the research. Paired samples T-test was adopted for the quantitative part of analysis, meanwhile coding schemes were developed for the analysis of lessons observed. Results: Descriptive results showed a consistent improvement on student's critical thinking across dimensions, regarding both their CT propensity and skills. Significant results were found in sub-dimension levels. Further, findings reflect improved student engagement in classroom both from behavioral and cognitive perspectives. There was also significant increase in student higher order-thinking behaviors. Conclusion: This piece of research confirmed the important role played by the teachers as facilitators in improving students' critical thinking in the process of learning and teaching in classroom. The paper concludes with recommendations for efficient teaching strategies in enhancing the student's CT and implications for linking pedagogical theories and classroom practice.

What is learning and how could the learning in mathematics be enhanced has fallen into debate for many years. Singapore rank number one in both TIMSS and PISA in 2015. What are the insights we could earned from such competition? Regarding to the facts that Singapore is one of the first countries in implementing the metacognition into their mathematics curriculum in 1990s (Chan & Leung, 2013), metacognition may possible be the answer we are searching for. There is no doubt that textbooks take a very important role in this. White & Mesa (2014) indicated that lecturer rely highly on textbook in their teaching especially the tasks assigned. However, researches with textbooks related to mathematical content and researches on their potential in developing metacognitive knowledge are limited (Mesa, 2004; Mesa, 2010). Especially, comparisons between metacognitive strategies among textbooks in different countries are very limited. Thus the following questions are proposed to be investigated. 1. Does mathematics textbook emphasis enough metacognitive strategies in enhancing students' metacognition? 2. Does the pattern of using metacognitive strategies in mathematics textbooks different among countries/cities? The assessment is divided as seven categories: think aloud, questioning, self-questioning, error detection, group activity, alternative strategies and reflection. It is identical to those suggested by Chan and Leung (2013). Result shows that think aloud is the most popular strategy used in textbooks among Singapore, British and Hong Kong. However, other strategies weight about only 20% in total. It is suggested that more metacognitive ingredients could be added in textbooks in enhancing students' metacognition.