The COVID-19 pandemic measures substantially affected the Hong Kong education systems over two years. The learning and teaching of Biology in local secondary schools have been greatly hindered by the occasional suspension of face-to-face teaching in Hong Kong. The school-based assessment (SBA) of the major public examination, Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE), have been even canceled for the past years. To respond to the constraints imposed by COVID-19, there was an accelerated popularization of electronic learning (e-learning) in the educational sector. Other than conducting online real-time lectures, some new educational modules unitizing Virtual Reality (VR) have been developed by educational organizations to substitute the authentic learning in the field trip. The presentation would report a case study of such a VR-based module which has been tested in the tertiary institution for training the pre-service Biology teachers. The students agreed in the survey that the learning experience through VR-based module is not comparable to authentic field experience, and yet it could be a contingent measure in responding to the COVID-19 situation and a potential resource for self-directed learning in the future. Copyright © 2022 BIOTA & AABE.

This paper reports on the long-term effectiveness of a non-formal co-curricular educational program based on a campus ecogarden at a Hong Kong university in developing pro-sustainability awareness, attitudes and behavior among undergraduate students. This service-based, nature-based experiential learning program, termed the Ecogarden Farmer and Biodiversity Surveyor, has been running at the university since 2015. The program is divided into two consecutive phases: a training phase comprising various learning activities and a successive internship phase consisting of the all-round practical tasks involved in managing the garden. A retrospective evaluation of the program using phenomenographic approach and content analysis was adopted to reveal the diversity of students’ learning experience, as the indicators of the success of the program. Of 112 participants from 4 cohorts, 32 completed online questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews were successfully conducted with twelve participants, three from each of the four cohorts. The results indicated that the program’s outcomes could be categorized into five themes. Most outcomes fit into the theme ‘an increase in knowledge and skill level,’ followed by ‘rise in environmental awareness,’‘facilitation of personal growth,’ and ‘enhancement of career development.’ Many structural experiences revealed may suggest the success of the program. The longer the participants had participated in the program, the more in-depth and diversified reflection of the senior participants relating to personal development were mentioned. This study provides critical insights into the validity of retrospective program evaluation for assessing the long-term impact of EfS programs by introducing a cross-sectional study of different cohorts as a serial time-point sampling strategy. Copyright © 2021 Cheang, Ng, Wong, Li and Tsoi.

To tackle the serious problems caused by plastic wastes, it is critical to develop new plastic recycling beliefs and behavior, together with recycling skills (4 important steps of recycling: cleanliness, separation, compression, and sorting) of the plastic wastes in environmental education (EE). The study revealed the effectiveness of a plastic waste recycling program adopting an action competence approach with educational interventions using a new plastic waste recycling bin (PRB). The PRB allows further classification of plastic waste types. Seven primary schools in Hong Kong participated in the program. A total of 313 questionnaires which assessed pupils’ classification knowledge, behaviours of plastic waste recycling, and their pro-environmental attitudes in terms of New Environmental Paradigm were received. Semi-structured interview with 27 pupils from the schools were also conducted. Recycling performance (actual behaviour) of using the brown bins (general plastic recycling bin) and the PRBs in the schools was assessed as the evidence of action competence in plastic waste recycling. Comparing the schools which adopted programmes with a combination of two types of recycling bins (brown bin vs. PRB) and interventions (Poster vs. half/full training courses to teach the recycling knowledge and skill), both quantitative and qualitative results showed that learners of the program enhanced their recycling knowledge (K), attitudes (A), and behaviour (B) concerning plastic waste recycling. The recycling performance proved that there is a statistically significant change in the recycling steps, separation and compression. The study provides insights for environmental educators to develop strategic solutions to ease environmental issues as well as putting these actions into practice in schools. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

An Ecogarden has been recently renovated in the campus of the Education University of Hong Kong, aiming at enhancing the biodiversity conservation function of the campus, as well as, promoting the education for sustainability in the university. Prior to the renovation of the Ecogarden, a qualitative survey has been conducted to reveal the understanding of different stakeholders in establishing Ecogarden on the concepts of biodiversity and its relationship to the function of Ecogarden. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted for three stakeholder groups, namely designers, educators and students (both environmental and non-environmental subject-related). The results indicated that their understanding of biodiversity concept is not good, neither the concept of ecosystem functioning. However, all of them ascertained the role of Ecogarden to conserve the biodiversity on campus (scientific value) and its education values, while the provisional (product-producing) value in biodiversity is the least. This study forms important baseline information for designing educational activities associating with Ecogarden, or other facility with similar nature, to advocate the biodiversity conservation in the community. Copyright © 2017 The 6th AZEC & 33rd ASET Joint International Conference.

Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) diving is always regarded as a risky activity to be conducted as an extra-curricular activity in the schools of Hong Kong. However, it provides a golden opportunity for students to experience the marine nature and serves as an excellent pedagogical tool of field based learning on the environmental education. The presentation will report a case study of an international school in Hong Kong on how they utilize SCUBA diving as a tool to enhance their students' knowledge about ocean and to foster the pro-environmental attitude. The teachers of the school have developed a tailor-made curriculum using problem-based approach, articulating with the discussion of current local environmental issues on marine conservation. The students have been forming a team to join the annual global citizen-scientist programme, Reef Check, to contribute their effort in revealing the health of coral community system in Hong Kong. A mixed research method, which includes semi-structured interviews of teachers, current students and alumni, and the self-administered questionnaire for them, was adopted in the study to evaluate the ocean literacy and pro-environmental attitude of the students and the effectiveness of the programme. The difficulties faced by both the teachers and the students throughout the implementation period of the programme will be reported. The opportunity and the challenge to run such a programme in the local school will be discussed, which would provide significant insights to other local schools conducting similar field-based learning and teaching activities.

Recent educational research reveals that case studies can be applied in STEM education as a pedagogically powerful method for teaching scientific concepts and contents as well as science process skills. However, there exists very little research or literature on the instructional use of case study in STEM education in Hong Kong. Hence, a team of science educators and scientists initiated a collaborative project to investigate how feasible case study can be incorporated in STEM education. Over a period of seven months, we developed case teaching materials (including case story line with authentic data, worksheets for field trip and laboratory experiments, online/remote-controlled experiments, aerial movies filmed by drones and virtual reality videos etc.) for topics purposefully selected from (i) Hong Kong Wetland Park, (ii) two large sewage treatment plants/projects of the Drainage Services Department, and (iii) landfill gas used by the Town Gas company. This teaching approach was implemented in three different courses in our education university. A set of instrument for mixed research method was specifically developed or modified for collecting data on the learning effectiveness and feedback from a total of 115 students enrolled in the aforementioned three courses. Essential features of the case teaching materials and preliminary findings of the evaluation will be presented. The discussion on the difficulties encountered in the development and implementation stages as well as the direction for the future research and development work will be highlighted.

One of the principal means in conserving biodiversity is to avoid the extinction of current existing organisms, especially on those endangered ones. Sharks, being the apex predators in marine ecosystem, face the risk of extinction due to the increasing anthropogenic threat. Although conservation of sharks has become a global concerning issue in the recent decades, recent studies have revealed that negative perceptions and misconceptions about sharks are widespread in young children in Hong Kong, one of the major shark-fin trading centres in the world. Such misunderstandings and negative attitudes developed among students in this trading centre with large consumption would be undesirable for the global conservation. Effective environmental education is an essential foundation for the sustainable success of shark conservation. Appropriate educational approach may promote the conceptual understanding and positive perception of children in this strategic place. While the acquisition of relevant environmental information is certainly not limited to formal education in school, it is noteworthy to investigate the source of environmental knowledge and information that the students acquire. This study, thus, aimed at examining the correlation between children’s perception of shark, the conceptual understanding of sharks-related ecological knowledge and a variety of information sources in Hong Kong senior primary students, so as to pinpoint the most influential source of information in contributing students’ perception and understanding about shark. On the bright side, we would identify the most effective platform in disseminating the information on shark conservation. The results showed the positive correlation between the conceptual understanding and the sources of TV documentary and readings. Types of reading materials and reading time are also correlated with their conceptual understanding of the issues on shark conservation.

In the last two decades, a lot of effort has been put into protection of Hong Kong’s marine environment. The environment, ecology and conservation strategies are all excellent teaching resources for executing environmental education in local schools. In 2013, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has commissioned the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) to develop an educational programme to promote our marine environment, its ecological value and marine conservation work among Hong Kong local schools. The programme provided innovative and comprehensive education kits and web Apps for primary and secondary schools as well as school visits and field studies to effectively deliver marine ecological knowledge and messages of marine conservation to local students. The programme also involved a “train-the-trainer” project in which AFCD organized informative marine conservation seminars, field trips and poster competition for undergraduate students in HKIEd who helped to provide interactive school talks for primary and secondary school students. All these activities target to educate the young generation our marine environment and raising their concerns and awareness on marine conservation issues and equip the potential teachers from HKIEd with essential marine conservation knowledge and field experience in their future career.