Rapid developments in building information modeling (BIM) are escalating the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry toward digital transformation. However, the lack of skilled BIM professionals is a critical issue slowing this transformation. Currently, few educational institutions include BIM topics in their curricula, especially those developed for quantity surveying (QS) programs. Moreover, the learning outcomes of BIM curricula may not meet the current industrial requirements. Thus, this study investigated the current states, gaps, and challenges of BIM education for QS practices in Hong Kong. This study conducted surveys to determine industrial requirements and a case study to examine the BIM curricula currently offered at Hong Kong educational institutions. The results suggest that the current BIM education for QS practices is in line with the pace of BIM development in the AEC industry. However, some advanced topics are not covered in BIM education. Additionally, the non-standardized BIM competencies to be attained by students lead to uncertainty and challenges in BIM education for quantity surveyors. © 2022 Associated Schools of Construction.

This paper reports a design and implementation of a STEM enrichment programme infused with affective elements designed for Hong Kong students. Specifically, it features a design-thinking approach to develop solutions to a self-selected problem addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Around 30 upper primary school (grades 5 to 6) and 20 lower secondary students (grades 7 to 10) enrolled in the study. Considering empathy as a core value of the design-thinking process and aligned with affective dimensions of thinking and learning, we investigate students' design-thinking development and STEM learning processes while highlighting empathy map as a pedagogical tool. We discuss the implications and insights of offering humanistic perspectives on STEM curricular design, especially for K-12 students. Our results showed that students at different age range were able to use empathy maps to devise designs effectively, despite their varying degrees of empathy. Furthermore, we conceptualize empathy maps as a pedagogical tool that creates physical boundaries in design thinking, making students' mental transitions across design stages more explicit. This study contributes to a better understanding of the educational potentials of design-thinking enhanced classrooms, with the results informing theoretical and practical advice on the integration of the empathy map in innovation-oriented projects. Copyright ©2023 Springer.

Current academic research bodies on STEM education focus on five perspectives of student ability enhancement, teacher training, curriculum integration, pedagogy and curricular implementation in intra-national/cross-national comparative studies. Noteworthy, there has been no comprehensive policy analysis of STEM education in secondary school curricula in Hong Kong. For STEM is not formally documented into school curricula and students mostly join inter-school and international STEM project competitions. International literature reveals that conceptions of STEM education are still fuzzy. In this paper, a 2 X 3 matrix is utilized to evaluate the extent of implementing STEM education in mainstream secondary schools in Hong Kong, and to envisage contextual difficulties and obstacles against STEM education. This paper then leads conceptual discussions on integrated approaches, draw policy implications and recommend further research agendas. Copyright © 2022 Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Mathematics is one of the core subjects in engineering education and forms the foundation of all disciplines in engineering. In Hong Kong, a significant number of students are admitted to engineering programmes without sufficient mathematical background. Engineering mathematics is essential for teaching and learning many fundamental and advanced engineering subjects. Due to this reason, a mobile application (app) is developed as one of the core components of engineering mathematics education by offering students flexible and self-initiated learning. In this study, a hypothesis model is proposed to investigate the effectiveness of student's learning in engineering mathematics with the developed mobile app. The results showed that the ease and convenience of using the mobile app have a positive effect on students' autonomous learning, and motivation and have a positive relationship with the learning effectiveness of the mobile learning (M-learning) app. It was found that the average marks of the assessment tests were significantly better than the screening test by using the app and notes. The current study has important implications in that the M-learning app should be used as a supportive role to supplement traditional teaching approaches. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

There is a strong need for educators to change the way they conduct aviation education to bring up future professionals in the industry. To cope with the COVID-19 challenge, creative online distance learning approaches become necessary. This article shows how an online lab approach offers social and cognitive support for engineering students to sustain their learning. A series of learning activities including flight simulation and virtual tours were held in an online lab setting by aviation professionals and lecturers at a university in Hong Kong to 35 undergraduate engineering students. The online lab encouraged students to apply knowledge into practice and develop their theoretical and conceptual knowledge through activities. Workshops focusing on aviation laboratory education aimed at students’ development of aviation theoretical and technical knowledge, collaborative skills, field-specific, and practical skills. A mixed research method was employed with the use of a motivational survey, teachers’ observation, and semi-structured interviews to understand students’ learning perceptions. This study found that the online laboratory activities could effectively motivate students to learn about aviation and improve their aviation knowledge cognitively and socially. It is recommended for online engineering educators to use lab technologies to teach aviation and related disciplines for future career preparation. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.