The following study reflects and explores the dynamics of aesthetic experiences within drama improvisations. This arts-based research was carried out in Hong Kong with six Cantonese children who were aged 3-5 years. Data were collected from the video transcripts of five workshops and the researcher's own research journal. Two significant milieus were observed: switching in-between roles and intuitive creativity is not talkback. I argue that because each of these two milieus provide the foreground for the complex -- and at times contradictory -- nature of children's aesthetic experiences where Deleuzian power is at play, opportunities arise for both, challenging the traditional adult-child power relations, and in so doing, educators can be able to reconfigure and reconceptualise teaching goals and practices, both generally and specifically, within the context of early childhood education.
[Copyright of Journal of Early Childhood Research is the property of SAGE Publications.]

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) program in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking, and English language proficiency in ESL students. Copyright © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This study analyses responses (n = 309, across 94 schools) to the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Zhang and Schwarzer [1995]. "Measuring Optimistic Self-Beliefs: A Chinese Adaptation of the General Self-Efficacy Scale." Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient 38 (3): 174-181) from Hong Kong primary teachers of inclusive music classes. Analysis of these results sheds light on the impact that contextual reforms have on these non-core subject music teachers' practice. Respondents' perceived self-efficacy is moderate - characterised as a see-saw relationship between their personal and external domains. A possible behavioural intervention suggests professional-sharing being further enriched were current Education Bureau's in-service SEN courses to be inclusive of all primary school subjects, including music. Specific factors that underpin these respondents 'moderate' self-efficacy are identified as forming two clusters, human resource management and stress, with possible behavioural interventions for these being outlined.
[Copyright of Music Education Research is the property of Routledge.]

Guided with an integrated theoretical framework of textbook and ideology, this study compares two versions of Chinese history textbooks published by one publisher in two different publication systems which were enacted immediately before and soon after President Xi Jinping's 2012 ascendancy. Critical discourse analysis shows that, despite seeking to balance differ groups' histories, sharing a desire of consolidating the Communist Party of China's (CPC's) domination, and supposedly following curriculum standards made before 2012, the new version of textbooks greatly differed from the old version, reflected Xi's formal ideology and authority, and updated his informal ideology while following established guidelines for conveying historical materialism. This study concludes that knowledge in Chinese history textbooks serves the CPC's political needs, and especially reflects the-then top leader's efforts at consolidating Party dominance, signifying his power, and cultivating nationalism.
[Copyright of Compare-a Journal of Comparative and International Education is the property of Routledge.]

This study examined 44 students’ engagement in the composition of popular and classical music in a computer-mediated environment. The study took place over the course of one school year at a government-funded secondary school in Hong Kong that had 30 iMac music workstations. Participants were 22 Form 3 students (aged 14–15) and 22 Form 4 students (aged 15–16) who composed in different genres consisting of popular music styles and classical music styles (i.e. baroque, classical and romantic period music), respectively, on the computer as part of the school’s music curriculum. At the end of the study, participants completed a retrospective assessment to examine the correlation between engagement in music learning and computer-mediated composition. The results indicated three areas that should be considered in music curriculum development: 1) sustainable engagement in learning both classical and popular music; and 2) the idea of ‘de-composing’ and ‘re-composing’ pedagogy in both classical and popular music styles. The findings suggest that ‘de-composing’ and ‘re-composing’ pedagogy in computer-mediated composition may engage students in ways that promote deeper learning by combining ‘old’ and ‘new’ musical styles through an engagement cycle that enhances an understanding of both classical and popular music. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

FIBER (Flipped Issue-Based Enquiry Ride) is a teacher-facilitated interactive pedagogic framework that the authors propose to integrate flipped learning into social humanities education. This paper reports a quasi-experimental study (with mixed methods) which examined the pedagogic effectiveness of FIBER in the authentic setting of formal curriculum learning and teaching. The study involved totally 611 Secondary-4 students from academically top, middle and bottom schools in Hong Kong. In comparison with the conventional issue-based enquiry learning approach, FIBER had different intensity of positive effects on the high, moderate, and low academic-achieving student participants. This paper provides researchers and educational practitioners with empirical evidence for supporting wider adoption of FIBER in social humanities education, as well as harnessing flipped learning in formal schooling. Apart from discussing the benefits, the authors also underline the challenges of FIBER and suggest future work.
[Copyright of Interactive Learning Environments is the property of Routledge.]

歷史教科書的結構可以分為課文系統和課文輔助系統兩部分。課文系統是教科書的主體內容,課文輔助系統則起到工具性的作用,兩者都是教科書必不可少的組成部分。目前,學術界在教科書比較研究方面,關於內地和香港中國歷史教科書課文系統的研究成果較多,因而本文從課文輔助系統角度,對兩地初中中國歷史教科書進行比較分析。本文以香港雅集版和內地部編版初中中國歷史教科書為例,將兩版教科書進行分析和比較,以此深化對課文輔助系統的認知與理解。除緒論和結語外,文章總共分為四章內容:第一章內容為兩版初中中國歷史教科書導學系統的比較。本文從編輯說明、目錄和課前提要等方面,比較兩版教科書導學系統的異同點。總體而言,雅集版導學系統生動有趣,部編版則簡明扼要。第二章內容是兩版初中中國歷史教科書闡釋系統的比較。對兩版教科書闡釋系統進行比較,主要選取了文獻資料、注釋和圖表資料等欄目。通過比較發現,雅集版的闡釋系統形式多樣,部編版則傾向於典型性和針對性。第三章主要是兩版初中中國歷史教科書鞏固拓展系統的比較。通過課內思考題、課後習題和拓展活動的分析,探討兩版教科書鞏固拓展系統的特點。雅集版鞏固拓展系統注重探究能力的培養,部編版側重基礎知識的掌握。第四章是對內地初中中國歷史教科書課文輔助系統教學和編寫的啟示。在比較分析的基礎上,學習香港雅集版課文輔助系統的優點,使歷史教師課堂教學更加完善,也希望對歷史教科書課文輔助系統的編寫有所啟發。

歷史書籍是表達人們認識歷史多樣化的重要載體,根據適用人群不同,歷史學家往往用深度不一、層次有別的歷史知識完成民族身份認同的教育任務。按照特定要求,經過材料取捨和編排的中學歷史教科書,是給特定年齡段青少年認識歷史的知識體系。歷史教科書作為最主要的教育素材,其育人功能至關重要。如何立意並展開中學生歷史知識敘事,從而使其接受、理解且認知歷史學習效果達到最佳,這是施教過程中,更好發揮育人作用的第一步,是完成這一教育功能的關鍵環節。該研究的對象取自雅集版《新編世界史》,依次介紹教科書的編寫背景、系統、內容、編寫特點,從中探討其育人功能。在編寫方向、內容取捨及表達手法上,該版本完全遵照香港中學文憑的課程大綱。全書內容史實豐富、剪裁恰當,脈絡清晰,務求幫助學生掌握二十世紀的歷史發展脈絡及國際間的相互關係。內容選材基於對培養兼容並蓄、具有全球視野公民的價值取向,亦著重啟發學生思維,以配合中學文憑考試課程提倡的“探究性學習模式”;教科書編寫技藝上,無論試題練習、內容分析都貼近課程考試的擬題內容及形式,該書亦採用多元化的史料,例如文字、圖片、漫畫、圖表及數據等,以提升學生的學習興趣,並培養學生多角度分析史料的能力。《新編世界史》從二十世紀亞洲的現代化與蛻變切入,通過介紹東方國家在西方強國壓迫下的反抗與鬥爭,從側面對學生進行人權意識教育;通過國際社會為維持和平所作的努力,試圖教育學生認識與現代法治社會相適應的是公民規則意識,培養學生依照法律、規章、制度辦事的規則意識;學生在學習整套教科書後,能夠清楚體會過往人類面對的困難與挑戰,了解到二十世紀人類對民主、自由和平等的追求,最終成為具有世界視野、國民意識和責任感的公民。

小學音樂教育對於學生音樂素養的養成有著舉足輕重的作用。雖然各個國家和地區的小學音樂課程中歌唱都佔有重要地位,但也會在對歌唱教學的認識、內容和方法方面有所區別。本文通過對中國大陸地區、中國臺灣地區及中國香港地區四套小學音樂教材的分析和比對,探討三地歌曲教學的異同,並希望為相互的了解和借鑒提供參考。本課題研究論文共分為兩章。第一章主要探討歌唱對小學生生理以及心理發展的促進作用以及歌唱在近現代學校音樂課程中的地位。第二章從三地各版本教材的歌曲總數、歌曲類型、相同歌曲和相同教學內容的不同教學方式,分析三地教材的異同點,展現三地對歌唱的不同教學思路。結語部分結合三地的歷史背景以及前面兩章的分析進行總結與歸納。

隨著新一輪的初中歷史教材改革之路開啟,最近,教育部將義務教育初中歷史教材進行了統編,預計2017年秋天投入使用。初中歷史教科書應該怎麼編一直是廣大學者不斷深思和爭論的問題。初中歷史教科書的結構一般包括引言、課文、史料、注釋、練習等,中國九十年代的學者白月橋前輩將教科書分為課文系統和課文輔助系統兩部分。其中課文系統是教學的主要內容,是解決“教什麼”與“學什麼”的問題,而課文輔助系統是教學方法的集中體現,解決“怎麼教”的問題。我國歷史教科書的課文輔助系統由簡單不斷向前發展,民國早期歷史教科書的輔助系統只有“歷代系統”或者“大事年表”等表解,而後,出現了小字、圖片、提示等系統,逐漸的發展成熟。所以,中國的歷史教科書輔助系統的“年齡”是比較年輕的,有必要對其進行更深入的研究,以期使歷史教科書的輔助功能更加完善。筆者選取了香港比較具有代表性的歷史教科書——《現代版初中歷史教科書2014》作為研究對象,在廣泛、深入收集眾多有關資料的基礎上,綜合分析香港初中歷史教科書輔助系統的各個子系統,逐個探討其結構的優劣,從而得到相應的啟示,以期對內地歷史教科書編纂者供給有用的參考。