Play is the characteristic behaviour of children aged between two to six. It is one useful way in which children can acquire developmental skills. According to theorists such as Sylva, Bruner and Genova (1976) and Gravey (1977), play had intellectual benefits. They believed that play experience was the optimal way of enhancing children's creativity and imagination. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 1988) states that a high quality early childhood programme provides a safe and nurturing environment that promotes the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of young children and 'play' is no doubt an essential component of the developmentally appropriate practice. Following the world's trend, 'Learning through play' was first introduced to the pri-primary education of Hong Kong through the Visiting panel of Llewellyn in 1982. Then the Government endorsed their view by adopting the suggested pedagogy as the recommended method of teaching and learning in the local kindergarten in ECR2 (1986). The Government believed that by including the theory of 'learning through play' in the teaching education programme, the curriculum as well as the undesirable pedagogical strategies which had been identified (ECR2 1986) would then change amongst local kindergarten teachers. Has the problem released in ECR2(1986) been diminished after a decade? Is there any instructional paradigm shift witnessed in the early childhood education? A multi-case study was designed to collect qualitative data on the lived experience of the practices of the practitioners in 1996. A group of six in-service kindergarten teachers who were having their one- year Teacher Education Course (95-96) for kindergarten teachers of the Hong Kong Institute of Education were involved in the study. The three levels of reflection proposed by Schon (1987); namely, reflection-for-action, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action were used as means to collect holistic data of

In a learner-centred classroom, how much intervention a teacher should provide in the process of learning is a very important issue. The answer to this question is quite complex. Is there the concordance between the teacher’s expectations and the students’ expectations in key areas such as the respective roles in learning, classroom structure, teaching and even the role of school? These factors are related to the degree of teacher intervention and learner autonomy which will be expected and tolerated in the classroom. This is especially true in a classroom where the teacher and students come from different sociocultural environments. This paper will discuss inherent problems of instituting a learner-centred classroom where a lecturer, not from the dominant culture, has attempted to create a learner-centred environment. The presentation will discuss the implications and difficulties of such an approach using interview data from lecturers and students in a skill-based English course conducted at a teacher training institute in Hong Kong. The perceptions and expectations of both parties will be presented and explored. Discussion will counter around the implications of learner-centred instruction in a traditional educational system.

It has been estimated that there are globally over 20 million people using various features of the Internet. In particular, the World Wide Web(WWW) is developing very rapidly, especially for business application and it consists of interlinked hypermedia documents for retrieving and displaying information in form of text, pictures, audio, video and even interactive simulation. From an educator' s point of view, there are three main advantageous features of the WWW that can make it very special for educational usage: First, the teaching materials in hypermedia form are accessible around the world through networked personal computers and so the temporal and spatial constraint of classroom teaching are removed. Second, the multimedia features of the WWW documents (represented by Hypertext Markup Language, HTML) are well-known to be effective for presentation/ transmission of ideas and factual information. Third, the hyperlinkage of WWW documents provides not only links (i.e. WWW addresses or locations) to other documents as instantaneously accessible references but also a mode of nonlinear learning which resembles the association operation of human mind. However, the concept of teaching through the Internet has rarely been put into practice in the sub-degree level according to our knowledge in the Science discipline. Therefore, we have employed a simple model to establish a WWW home-page (located at http://www.hkstar.com/~hkiedsci) of a self-learning package on Introductory Digital Electronics for our HKIEd Science students enrolled in various types and modes of courses as well as for those AS/AL Physics students in Hong Kong. Apart from some qualitative feedback obtained from email, we have issued an evaluation questionnaire to every science student concerned to collect his/her suggestions for improvement of the contents of the topic and the design of the home-page and to reflect the student' s receptivity of learning through the Internet. The main results of our survey

Nowadays, the application of computer technology in assisting the classroom teaching and learning is common and popular, particularly in special education. Many researches have indicated the inherent value and significance of using CAL in teaching children with special educational needs (SEN). It has been stated that the computer may serve the communicative, instructional, training, recreational, learning or adaptive purposes. School success in applying the technology depends on many factors but familiarity and proficiency of teachers to the increasing demand of such technology are essential elements. However, there is not much available literature illustrating the use of computers in mentally handicapped schools in Hong Kong. The purposes of this paper are to investigate the instructional use of the computers and the difficulties encountered in different types of mentally handicapped schools. The research has been carried out in different types of mentally handicapped schools in Hong Kong. By questionnaire, the resources, facilities and frequencies of use in computers have been identified. Variables such as school types, school policy, budget, teacher attitude and commitment and instructional practices were identified and their contribution to the effectiveness of the program have been examined. By the follow-up case studies in the three different categories of mentally handicapped schools, an in-depth study on the organizational factors, teachers' attitude and commitment, pupils needs and instructional practices have been investigated. Such quantitative and qualitative analysis aimed at illustrating a clear picture about the use of resources in the classrooms. The results indicated that nearly all the mentally handicapped schools used the computers in teaching their SEN students. However, the students encountered different sorts of difficulties in using the computers, owing to their physical and intellectual disabilities. It was found that some of the teaching activities

This presentation examines the obstacles and difficulties in implementing cooperative learning in Hong Kong elementary and secondary schools, and proposes a framework for integrating cooperative learning with Hong Kong basic education so as to optimize teaching and learning. It was pledged by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR that small-class teaching will be implemented in primary schools by phases from the 2009 academic year. However, small-class teaching will not enhance the quality of teaching and learning without appropriate use of teaching approaches or strategies, and research shows that cooperative learning works well in a small-class teaching environment. This presentation starts with a summary of the 3 major schools of cooperative learning, and follows with a discussion of the expectations of principals/teachers, as well as of the difficulties observed in implementing cooperative learning in local classrooms. The analysis of the expectations and difficulties provides valuable insights in designing a framework to support teachers in systematic implementation of cooperative learning in their classrooms. The framework consists of two stages. The first stage provides a foundation to teaching and learning with cooperative learning, with 3 implementation phases of teaching strategy, lesson design and cooperative learning environment. The second stage is the enhancement of learning with cooperative learning in Inquiry in Science, Problem Solving in Mathematics and High Order Thinking in languages. Finally, this presentation provides a conceptual framework for systematic implementation of cooperative learning. Different modes of implementation are also suggested to meet the needs and cultures of individual schools. The audience will be invited to comment on the design of the framework.

In view of globalization, this paper takes a critical look at the learning and teaching of second language(s) in two Asian cities, i.e. Singapore and Hong Kong. It discusses the challenges faced by teachers and parents in helping children to learn second languages well as well as comparing the differences and similarities in parental and societal expectations, and the functional roles of second languages in the two societies.

With the rapid development of the Web, blended learning (online learning plus face-to-face learning) has become a model that more and more higher education institutions are exploring or intend to explore. This paper reports on how Information Technology has been integrated into a blended learning environment in the English Department at the Hong Kong Institute of Education since 2003. a number of projects have been carried out over the past six years, focusing on converting traditional face-to-face modules into partly face-to-face, partly online modules, and creating an effective blended learning environment. The Blackboard online learning management system has been adopted as the main platform for carrying out blended learning. Other resources for facilitating blended learning have also been developed, such as a series of subject-specific websites to assist module delivery, online quizzes for students’ self-assessment, and online wikibook projects requiring students to work in groups and write an academic textbook book together online. The blended learning mode has provided alternative learning spaces and increased use of written feedback from both students and staff. Data collected from these various projects and feedback from students and staff suggest that blended learning has been considered highly effective.

While teacher education in Hong Kong is generally delivered in a knowledge transmission mode, two teacher educators employ an alternative way in teaching. We explore the use of teacher narratives to promote teaching of child development. We view “teacher education as narrative inquiry” (Clandinin, 1993). Instead of beginning to teach the grand theories of child development, we share our family stories with students. We invite them to reflect upon the stories heard and resonate with their own family stories. By stimulating reflection (Schon, 1983) and resonance (Conle, 1996), we teach child development in an experiential and practical approach. Storytelling becomes a tool for teaching and understanding the meaning of lived experiences for construction of knowledge in teacher education programs.

Hong Kong schools are concerned with students’ behaviourial problems. This article examines how teachers narrated about the strategies adopted for improving students’ behaviour. Interactionist perspective was taken to explore how teachers defined the situation in which they participated. Interviews and classroom observation were conducted. Sixty teachers were involved. Eighteen classrooms were observed. The influence of Daoism, emerging as one of themes from the data, was prominent, as its principles were incorporated into the teachers’ belief in behaviour management. The findings showed that the influence of Chinese culture in Hong Kong schools is prominent while approaches to behaviour management based upon western societies and theories are “imported”. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive programmes for behaviour management are drawn.

This paper reports on a pilot study research conducted at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) with student teachers and their teaching practice supervisors. Difference between supervisory discourse of native speaking (Cantonese) and non-native speaking (English) supervisors are explained using a Student Mediation Model to explore how Cantonese students learn from their English speaking supervisors. The research focuses on the nature and quality of student-supervisor discourse to determine whether what is perceived is what is intended. The results may be a model of staff development. Theories of Communication, Semiotics and Symbolic Interaction, as well as interpersonal and intercultural theories are also applied to the model. A survey of HKIEd students in spring 1996 revealed their need to be briefed on the communication style impact of non-native speaking supervisors. If there is misunderstanding between student expectations and supervisory behaviour a need for staff development for supervisors would be indicated. Staff development research indicates that successful implementation calls for staff development for the supervisors. Early analysis of the data has begun to reveal that there is indeed a difference and dissonance in what the students receive related to what the supervisors are sending. Continuing analysis will occur over this summer with a full report for the conference.