Background: Different instructional factors are related to students’ achievement in different cognitive domains. Most research studies on large-scale assessment focus on science achievement as an entire variable, without considering science achievement in different cognitive domains. Purpose: This study investigates the predictive effects of the frequency of teachers’ using practical work and clarity of instruction on students’ achievement in different cognitive domains. Sample: A regional representative sample of 3265 Hong Kong students who took part in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 was used in this study. Design and Method: In order to disentangle the interrelationships between science instructional factors, attitudes toward science and students’ achievement in different cognitive domains, we carried out structural equation modelling to explore the responses by 3265 Hong Kong students to TIMSS 2019 surveys. Results: Frequency of teachers’ use of practical work had a significant positive impact on students’ achievement in the domains of knowing, applying, and reasoning, while clarity of instruction had a significantly negative impact on students’ achievement in the domains of knowing and applying. Enjoyment of science mediates the relationship between the relationships between frequency of practical work and achievement in three cognitive domains. Conclusion: This informs how teachers use practical work to enhance students’ enjoyment of science, intrinsic motivation and self-concept, in order to improve their achievement in knowing, applying and reasoning science. Implications contribute to future research on how best to improve students’ achievement in all three cognitive domains are discussed. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Many Southeast Asian countries have been promoting the use of EMI in non-language subjects, including science. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a notion which promotes students’ integration of both content and language. This chapter explores the use of a content analysis technique, an epistemic network analysis to explore how classroom interaction facilitates CLIL. We draw on Lin (2012)‘s ‘rainbow diagram’ to analyse how two Hong Kong science teachers used and expanded communicative resources to promote CLIL. These resources are L1 and L2 every day, oral and academic languages, as well as multimodal representations. A coding scheme is developed based on the ‘rainbow diagram’ from Lin (2012). Afterwards, we illustrate an innovative discourse analysis technique, epistemic network analysis, to characterise the frequency of connections between the codes generated. By qualitatively comparing the epistemic networks between teachers and students in a science practical work setting, we propose that epistemic network analysis can be used to compare the practice of CLIL of experienced and non-experienced teachers, as well as before and after professional development programmes. The strengths and weaknesses of this innovative method are then discussed. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Samantha M. Curle and Jack K. H. Pun; individual chapters, the contributors.

This study aims to develop a self-report inventory to measure University students’ perception of their creative thinking skills. Creative thinking is a critical learning outcome in higher education and one of the essential 21st Century Competency. The data were collected from 253 students of a university in Hong Kong. A structural equation model was applied to confirm the construct validity of the instrument. The result shows that the key characteristics of creative thinking skills are empirically constructed by creative character, originality, sensitivity, synthesizing and resistance to premature closure. The five characteristics of creative thinking can be considered as learning processes or outcomes to inform the design of instructional events and learning activities to nurture students’ creative thinking skills. Copyright © 2023 by the authors.

This study examined the direct and indirect relationships between playfulness (social and cognitive spontaneity), executive functions, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, and academic skills in Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 181 second-year (4 to 5 years) kindergarten children (45.9% boys) and their parents. Parents reported demographic information and children's playfulness and executive functions through a questionnaire. Children were administered behavioral assessments of convergent thinking, divergent thinking, Chinese word reading, and number word comparison at their kindergarten. Results from a path analytic model revealed the mediating roles of convergent and divergent thinking in the relationship between playfulness and number word comparison. In contrast, convergent thinking mediated the link between playfulness and Chinese word reading. Executive functions were positively related to playfulness but unrelated to children's academic skills. The findings suggest that playful children might develop better creative thinking processes, supporting their academic skills. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of play-based learning in developing children's creativity and academic skills in the early years. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

The potential impact of creative thinking and its contribution to successful arts practice has been argued over the last decade. Meanwhile, creative thinking has also been identified as making valuable contributions to arts and management. Cetinkaya (2014) and Kuo, Chen, and Hwang (2014) indicated that the application of creative thinking to management education is highly recommended, which needs to be developed through the learning process and still is a teaching challenge to date. This study implemented the project-based learning (PBL) approach as a treatment for tertiary arts education students over one academic year to examine its effect on their creative thinking disposition. Given this context, this study aimed to determine the improvement of creative thinking skills of art students through PBL in the arts management discipline. Consequently, the research question addressing the three dimensions is proposed and analyzed as to how they interact: creative thinking, project-based learning, and arts management education. Two theoretical frameworks were applied in this study: 1) the Creative Thinking Skills Development Framework from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER, 2020) and 2) the Essential Project Design Elements of PBLWorks (2015). The subjects were 52 art students from the Cultural and Creative Arts department at the Education University of Hong Kong. A qualitative approach was employed, while the data on students’ creative thinking skills were obtained from observations, interviews, and reflective journals. The results indicated that the integration of creative thinking and project-based learning could significantly uplift students’ learning outcomes in arts management education as they are in a complementary relationship. It provided opportunities for students in art management learning engagement and several areas of thinking skills development in relation to the current curricula objectives. Copyright © 2023 Association of Arts Administration

The present study examined the association between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, as indexed by engagement, cognitive maturity, and innovativeness in critical thinking. A total of 72 Chinese pre-service teachers were recruited from Hong Kong to complete an online questionnaire cross-sectionally. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that mindfulness was differentially associated with critical thinking dispositions. As important dimensions of mindfulness, mindful presence was positively associated with engagement in critical thinking, whereas mindful acceptance was positively associated with cognitive maturity in the regression models. However, neither mindful presence nor mindful acceptance was related to innovativeness in critical thinking. As a covariate, gender was not related to dimensions of mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions. The present findings inform the literature on the relation between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, particularly in the Chinese context. As a major implication, policymakers should be made aware of the importance of strengthening pre-service teachers’ mindfulness, such that they could have a greater disposition to teach critically as they enter the workforce. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). 

Despite a plethora of studies on how to teach critical thinking (CT) in different subject classrooms, there is limited research on how teachers foster their CT and learn to teach CT through pre-service teacher education. Such a gap gives impetus to the present study, which seeks to examine to what extent and how a group of student teachers are prepared to become CT-oriented teachers in a Hong Kong-based pre-service language teacher education programme. Adopting a qualitative research approach and informed by a tripartite conceptual framework (i.e. coverage, coherence, and applicability), the study explored student teachers’ perceptions and experiences via in-depth interviews and relevant documents, supplemented by data gathered from language teacher educators in the programme. The findings reveal a rich yet unbalanced coverage of CT instruction, the transferability of CT learning to its teaching, as well as the rhetoric-reality gap in developing CT-related pedagogy in the programme. In light of the findings, practical implications at classroom and curricula levels are drawn to facilitate the integration of CT into teacher education programmes. © 2023 Informa UK Limited.

Within Hong Kong educational reforms, creativity is defined as the ability to generate original ideas and solve problems, with schools implementing creativity development in accordance with their own needs. This study tested the hypothesis that Hong Kong Chinese students’ adherence to Confucian cultural beliefs and their functions of personal cognitive resource affect their creativity. Based on the Creative Inventions Test, an instrument with demonstrated construct validity in the Hong Kong Chinese context, students (N=324) from one secondary school in Hong Kong created four inventions with each evaluated by non-expert judges for originality and practicality , and extent of knowledge fixation . To estimate their adherence to Confucian cultural beliefs, students also completed a simplified version of the Eastern-Western Perspective Scale and, finally, a subset from the Thinking Styles Inventory. Path models showed that knowledge fixation and social conformity are significant negative predictors of originality and practicality. Furthermore, adherence to Confucian beliefs and executive thinking styles contribute indirectly and negatively to originality and practicality. We conclude that the development of creativity in Hong Kong is influenced by the tensions that exist between students’ Confucian cultural beliefs and social conformity and executive thinking, hence demanding a reimagining of the education reform in Hong Kong. © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

Pre-service language teachers develop their critical thinking in teacher education courses. They learn to teach critical thinking mainly during the teaching practicum. Their learning to teach CT takes place through different forms of mediation. Their learning is impeded by the gap between the curriculum goal and its implementation. Informed by a socio-cultural perspective, this study investigated how two student teachers developed their CT-oriented pedagogies in a pre-service language teacher education program in Hong Kong. Drawing on multiple sources of data including semi-structured interviews, relevant documents, and informal communication, the findings revealed the participants' growing pedagogical knowledge and competence in CT teaching, influenced by various forms of mediation – i.e., object-regulated, other-regulated, and self-regulated – afforded in the situated context. The gap between the curriculum's goal and its implementation was identified as a crucial factor that impeded their learning to teach CT in the program. The paper concludes with practical implications that can help integrate CT into pre-service teacher education programs with a view to preparing future teachers with a high level of CT and CT-focused pedagogies. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier.