The examination-oriented education, de-emphasis of hands-on practical work in science lessons and the lack of interdisciplinary curricula are some of the major constraints or obstacles for STEM education in China as reflected from their deficiency or ineffectiveness in nurturing gifted students or talents. In this presentation, we will report two different innovative ways to employ technology and field-based learning for effective STEM education as based on our prize-winning educational device (called mobile logger for science and environmental studies with a corresponding software/app called SESlogger). In the first case, a cartoon video was specifically developed for teaching the primary school students on how to use the device and then students were arranged to practice it for field-based learning in a Guangdong school campus. In the second case, the mobile logger was used to collect on-site environmental data for hiking through all the ten sections of the MacLehose Trail with a total distance of 100km and then the best section of the Trail was designed as a kind of technology-enhanced field trip for trial run by some university students in Hong Kong. To evaluate the educational effectiveness, students' attitudes and views towards the STEM lessons and activities have been collected using questionnaire survey (together with the pre-test and post-test scores on the students' cognitive understanding and level of practical performance) or interviews. For these two cases, we will also present the findings on students' learning difficulties and field-based implementation problems or issues together with reflections from the researchers themselves. Copyright © 2020 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.

In Hong Kong, STEM education has become timely only since 2016 when the government launched the related policy initiatives which impacted the education practices substantially. Particularly, learning in STEM domains has often consisted of memorization of facts devoid of deep connection, separated from life and often failing to integrate the STEM disciplines. Hence, STEM learning is urged to take place in an environment with more attention to different modes of communicating and meaning making. Individuals are required to make meaning and find ways to create personal connections to deeply internalize this knowledge. The investigations, sense-making, creativity, representation and communication of STEM-related ideas are all conducted and connected with human implications of meaningfulness. In this connection, this paper will report the study based on constructivist narrative approach (as cross-case studies) of 3 pre-service teachers majoring in STEM-based programme at teacher training institutes in Hong Kong and 3 in-service STEM teachers. The empirical study will purpose to address three research questions within STEM professional teacher identity perspective: (1) What STEM teacher should be look like and mean to them? (2) What are the factors which construct the STEM teacher identity? (3) What are the needs for professional training of STEM teachers and implications for teacher education? Empirical findings from this study will inform the implications on the context of STEM teacher identity, career and life planning education with STEM-related career aspirations and the professionalism growth of STEM teacher in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.

Programming is perceived to be an indispensable type of literacy in the digital era. To effectively promote and implement programming in K–12 education, it is necessary to understand school principals' perception of programming education. This study adopted a mixed methods design to explain principals' understanding, expectations, and support for programming education in primary schools using Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). In study 1, survey questionnaires were distributed to all principals from public primary schools in Hong Kong. Two hundred and sixty-six principals responded to the survey (response rate = 55.6%). In study 2, a follow-up interview study with 13 principals was conducted to further explore their perception of programming education. The results of study 1 indicated that principals with a better understanding of programming education tend to have clearer expectations of how to implement programming education in their schools, which consequently leads to greater support for the implementation of programming education. In study 2, the thematic analysis further supported the results obtained in study 1. Specifically, the results of study 2 demonstrated that most principals show understanding, expectation, and support for the implementation of programming education, which in turn results in various positive student and teacher outcomes. The results also showed that challenges are inevitable during implementation, principals show capabilities and willingness to adjust their expectation and support to better integrate programming education into their school curricula. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This special issue on early STEM education collects ten articles that present a series of studies covering topics about curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education and professional development, family environment, and inclusive education for enhancing young children’s STEM learning experiences. These collected studies have presented empirical evidence obtained from diverse cultural contexts, including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and the United States. With varying designs and diversified approaches, these studies jointly present a vivid picture of the STEM world and may therefore provide some contributions to theoretical developments and practical improvements. Copyright © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This paper aims to report and discuss the findings of a research project examining the effects of students‘ use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies on their computer programming achievement in higher education. In the project, data were collected from 66 undergraduate students who enrolled in a 13-week introductory computer programming course offered by a Hong Kong university during the academic year 2018/19. Participants were asked to complete the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) to measure their use of SRL strategies. They were also asked to write weekly reflective journals to reflect on their learning progress and plan their future actions for improvement. Their programming achievement was assessed by individual exercises and an end-of-course examination as part of the course assessment. The project adopted a mixed method approach to data analysis. A quantitative correlational analysis on the questionnaire and assessment scores was conducted to explore the relationship between SRL strategies and programming achievement. In addition, a qualitative content analysis on the reflective journals was carried out to identify differences in programming problems and SRL strategies used to tackle the problems between high- and low-achieving students. The findings of the project indicate that higher-order cognitive strategies, metacognitive control strategies and collaborative learning strategies were positively associated with programming achievement. The findings also suggest that reflective journaling can be a good way for students to reflect on their programming performance and think about strategies for improvement. Copyright © 2019 ICEDU.

This paper proposes a novel remote-controlled laboratory (RCL) system, which was developed by using innovative ideas and methods for applying technology-enhanced learning to secondary school science education (grade 7-9 or ages 12-14) through three iterative cycles of design-based research. This Internet-based RCL system enables learners to control and observe the server side of the laboratory equipment and to perform real-time remote scientific investigations at distant places.In this study, three iterative cycle trials and refinements were performed. First, a newly developed RCL system involving four remote experiments was initially tested by 64 undergraduate students who studied science education and web technology and were enrolled in teacher training courses. Then, a refined RCL system involving eight remote experiments were then evaluated by 32 secondary school students from a local public school as a second iterative cycle (selected electricity, plants, light and sound topics). After the refined RCL system was further refined, it was again evaluated by 35 secondary school students from another local public school as a third iterative cycle. The evaluation of these three iterative cycles was performed using a mixed research method that included achievement tests (for the second and third iterative cycles only), questionnaire survey, open-ended questions and interviews specifically developed to collect data on student understanding, perception, and implementation of the use of the RCL system.The results of the achievement tests revealed that the secondary students more comprehensively understood the related science topics. In addition, the survey results indicated that the participants believed that the RCL system and methods for conducting the experiments were appropriate and educational. Nevertheless, negative comments and suggestions for improvement were identified. Accordingly, the researcher refined the RCL system and its design principles (integration with

This study explored the demographic predictors of teachers’ stages of concern (SoC) for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Hong Kong. Results of multiple regression analysis demonstrated that teaching sector and participation in STEM education training predicted four SoC, whereas teaching subject area predicted two SoC. We discussed the significance of these findings by adopting a personalized approach to teacher professional learning. Copyright © ICCE 2020 - 28th International Conference on Computers in Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.

There is an increasing need in Hong Kong kindergartens for exploring children with exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math (STEAM) in school settings. The aim is not the subject-based learning but the way of integrating the STEAM concepts in the holistic learning experience. Guiding children to explore the concepts in the process of solving problems, providing hands-on experience to stimulate children's intrinsic motivation. However, the challenge is apparent that the lack of professional development to prepare the teachers for STEAM education in early childhood education. This project adopted a Pedagogical Play-framework (Edwards, 2017) to prepare kindergarten teachers to integrate STEAM education through play. Accordingly, three types of play were explored, including 1) open-ended play, 2) modelled play and 3) purposefully framed play. The initial finding indicates that kindergarten teachers showed the positive attitude to involve STEAM education in the classroom practice, and used the Pedagogical Play-framework for improving children’s engagement. Teachers were lack of the subject concepts especially the science and the engineering areas. More school-based support were needed to create the multimodal learning spaces.越來越多香港的幼稚園開始探索融入STEAM的元素，包括科學、科技、工程、藝術及數學的學習範疇。但其目標不是主張孩子學習獨立學科，而是希望進行統整的學習，在解決問題的過程中探索所需的概念，以動手解難為基礎讓孩子整合學習經驗，激發孩子的內在學習動機。然而教師培訓是STEAM教育在幼兒教育推行的一個難點。本研究以一個幼師培訓課程為例，使用教學遊戲架構（Pedagogical Play-framework）來透過遊戲來設計STEAM教學活動，三類型遊戲包括1）開放式遊戲，2）示範式遊戲以及3）目的性的遊戲。研究初步發現大部分教師對STEAM教學的態度積極，使用教學遊戲架構能夠幫助教師提升兒童參與程度。但初步的研究結果顯示教師缺乏STEAM的學科知識，特別是在科學和工程方面，以及需要更多的校本支持來設計多元學習空間。 Copyright © 2018 Learning & Teaching Expo.

Although encouraging student creativity is a commonly recognised goal of STEM education, there is a lack of research in this area. In this study, the effects of epistemic beliefs on STEM creativity and the mediation of intellectual risk-taking were investigated. The subjects were 461 primary students in Hong Kong. The findings revealed that (i) intellectual risk-taking was a significant and positive predictor of STEM creativity; (ii) the certainty and justification dimensions of epistemic beliefs had direct, negative and significant impacts on STEM creativity; and (iii) the complexity dimension of epistemic beliefs had both direct and indirect significantly positive impacts on STEM creativity, and the indirect impacts were mediated by intellectual risk-taking. This study revealed the complicated relationships between different orientations in epistemic beliefs and STEM creativity, which include both constraining and facilitating effects, and both direct and indirect impacts. We argue that although reducing naïve and relativistic epistemic beliefs is essential for the development of creativity in STEM education, the effects of cultivating mature epistemic beliefs may not be sufficient. Further direct and explicit approaches are required to more effectively enhance students’ STEM creativity. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.