Limited research has examined STEM education in early childhood, or addressed how STEM is integrated into the curriculum in the kindergarten level. Teachers‟ conceptions of STEM appear to differ from the pedagogical theory. They may be aware of the basic subject concepts, but they lack the effective teaching approaches required to integrate the subject concepts into playful learning processes. Thus, it is important to investigate how teachers can design STEM activities that involve digital toys, in addition to the subject concepts, pedagogical approaches, and factors that affect teachers‟ pedagogical designs. The aims of this study were to 1) investigate the different types of STEM activities in a kindergarten in Hong Kong; 2) understand the perspectives of school management teams and teachers on implementing STEM activities, and 3) provide recommendations for STEM activities appropriate to kindergartens. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

The relationship between the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) and translation have been loosely entwined for a very long time. However, in the past decade, a number of academics have developed a renewed interest in the interplay between the two, and some teacher education universities offer translation courses to their student teachers. This paper presents findings from a preliminary study in which a questionnaire survey was used to identify the motives and perceived benefits of learning translation of 40 non-native EFL student teachers whose first language is Chinese, in a teacher education university in Hong Kong. The findings indicate that the pre-service teachers decided on taking translation courses or taking the subject as a minor because of their interest in both Chinese and English and their eagerness to improve their proficiency in these languages. The belief that learning translation might help non-native EFL student teachers secure a job in a language-related field is another prime motive for them to learn translation. It was discerned that they perceive learning translation to be beneficial to both their Chinese and English proficiency, especially in the knowledge of English grammar, and they have benefited in bilingual competence and career options. The paper concludes that although EFL student teachers tend not to work as professional translators after graduation, learning translation is deemed to have provided them with multifaceted benefits and increased their competitiveness in language-related fields.A relação entre o ensino de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira (EFL) e a tradução está entrelaçada há muito tempo. Contudo, na última década, diversos acadêmicos têm desenvolvido um interesse renovado em sua interação e algumas universidades de formação de professores oferecem cursos de tradução para os seus professores em formação. Esse trabalho apresenta os resultados de um estudo preliminar no qual um questionário foi utilizado para identificar

Globalisation has facilitated massive flows of immigrant students of diverse backgrounds into schools. These developments intensify concerns about immigrant youth's mobility and belongingness, and about the capacity of schools to integrate them into receiving societies. However, the diverse forms, experiences and effects of young schoolchildren's educational mobilities on belongingness are under-researched. This study addresses this gap by examining the links between mobility, belongingness and schooling experiences of 417 Chinese cross-border students (CBS). These students are permanent residents of Hong Kong but live on the mainland and travel across the border to school every day. A structural equation model shows that some dimensions of schooling experiences, notably better relations with local peers and more extracurricular school-based activities in Hong Kong, have stronger links to CBS's belongingness than students' personal and family characteristics and their hours on cross-border commuting. The implications of the findings, both at theoretical level and for enhancing young mobile child migrants' belongingness, are discussed. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Educators and policy makers have increasingly recognized the importance of computational thinking (CT). Despite the growing body of CT literature, how to cultivate CT is still underexplored and undertheorized in early childhood education. Informed by Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, this exploratory study was conducted with a focus on three CT skills: pattern recognition, sequencing, and algorithm design. The framework for the study was developed in two stages. First, we designed two sets of unplugged activities (relying on tangible materials), aiming to (1) provide students with more concrete experiences of CT and (2) equip them with the necessary vocabularies/instructions for the subsequent plugged activity (with a digital device). The theoretical foundation for such an unplugged and plugged design comprised Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Asher’s Total Physical Response. In the second stage, we offered our CT course in a kindergarten in Hong Kong, involving six teacher participants and a total of 11 students from K1 to K3 (aged 3 to 6). After 10 h of CT training, almost all students demonstrated their mastery of pattern recognition and sequencing. However, the K1 students could only partially complete the tasks of algorithm design while the others generally reached the target level of achievement. Strengthening preschoolers’ training on CT language and differentiated instruction are some possible strategies to improve the CT instructions. Copyright © 2019 De La Salle University.

The discussion of moral dilemmas has long been a teaching strategy for moral education. However, the questioning techniques teachers use to lead moral discussions are not fully understood. With reference to a collaborative teaching research project on a values education video-story, this study explored the authentic practice of teacher questioning in moral education classes. Data were collected in a Hong Kong primary school through lesson observations, interviews, document reviews and field notes. Teachers used three techniques when leading moral discussions: posing hypothetical questions, asking role-switching questions and playing devil’s advocate. Collectively, these three techniques helped to enhance students’ thinking. The study suggests that teachers’ questioning in moral discussions can be seen as a contextualised activity that involves the analysis of the key characters, plot points and moral values embedded in the story throughout the processes of curriculum planning and teaching. Teacher questioning strategies offer directions for future studies of moral discussions. Copyright © 2020 Journal of Moral Education Ltd.

While the relationship between self-determination and the academic achievement of students has been widely tested across cultures and groups, limited research has examined the antecedents of self-determination and their impacts on school engagement, which is the pre-requisite of academic achievement. The present study, based on the self-system processes model of motivation, tested the relationships between peer support, school support, self-determination, and school engagement in 118 secondary school students with special needs integrated into mainstream schools in Hong Kong. The results showed that school support has a significant indirect effect on school engagement via self-determination as a mediator. The correlations between school support, self-determination, and school engagement are all positive and significant, whereas peer support did not correlate with school engagement. Controlling for the factors of peer and school support, self-determination was the strongest predictor of school engagement for students with special needs. The current findings may highlight the importance of school support and self-determination interventions to enhance the school engagement of students with special needs in inclusive educational settings. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The significance of reflective practice (RP) has been widely recognized in both general education and language education. The past years have witnessed an exponential growth of studies in examining how technology can be utilized to promote teachers' RP and video-based RP has been extensively reported as a powerful tool for teacher learning in many educational contexts. While existing literature has documented the potential benefits that student teachers may reap from video-based RP, there is a lack of attention to the complex interplay between the process of their RP and the contextual factors in their situated learning environment. This article reports on a study which aims to promote video-based RP among student teachers in a pre-service language teacher education course in Hong Kong. Drawing on data from post-course interviews with and the videoed reflection of six student teachers, the study uncovered the complex and dynamic process of the student teachers' video-based RP. This article offers practical implications for language teachers, teacher educators and school leaders on how to promote RP in second language teacher education. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the writing development of Hong Kong kindergarten students over 12 months. They attended 18 kindergartens territory-wide and were followed from June 2002 to June 2003 for the collection of three waves of teacher-rated data at six-month intervals.Design/methodology/approach: First, the construct validity of the translated and culturally adapted version of Morrow's (2012) checklist which assesses writing development was confirmed, considering that the students attended Hong Kong kindergartens who wrote in the Chinese language. The multilevel analysis, which employed corrected measures captured through Wolfe and Chiu's (1999a, 1999b) five-step Rasch scaling method for a common frame of reference, estimated the effects of the factors, namely, student age, gender, class level and schools.Findings: The children's progress over the second six months was also apparently much smaller than the first SIX months for this cohort. The dramatic slow-down in the second six-month period for both cohorts might be partly attributed to the peculiar arrangement of schooling at that time.Research limitations/implications: The recommendation from this study is that random sampling and student test scores on writing need to be taken for the identification of the general trend of young children's writing development in Hong Kong, as well as other Chinese communities alike.Originality/value: The profile of the student's emergent writing development at each six-month follow-up and over the 12 months was explored. Differences between the groups based on age, gender, class level and school in terms of student writing development on average were statistically significant. Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited.

The exam-oriented education system in Hong Kong has created a language learning environment that is largely confined to traditional classroom settings, which may not take best advantage of students' abilities to relate what they have learnt in class to real-life scenarios. Such learning environments may have implications for the way second language learners learn a new language. Numerous studies suggest that drama activities used in language classrooms can enhance second language learning. These studies put forward tasks that generate pleasant and rewarding experiences, enhance confidence and subsequently increase motivation to learn a language. By focusing on students studying in a beginning French course at a tertiary institution in Hong Kong, this article reports on how drama activities make a target language more enjoyable and easier to recall. Classroom observations and interviews with students (N = 30) revealed that learning French via drama had a number of positive effects on second language learners especially in terms of their confidence. The learning of French through drama may provide a language learning environment that enables students to apply their French language skills more effectively in real-life situations. Copyright © 2019 Adam Mickiewicz University Press. All rights reserved.

This study aims to explore whether university co-curricular courses with embedded service-learning have an effect on students' interpersonal capability development, and how course quality relates to student outcomes. It used a mixed-methods approach comprising surveys and interviews. The survey data show that students' self-perceived relationship management skills improved in all cocurricular courses. Students' perception of their own awareness of others' experiences and feelings, however, was found to have worsened. Course quality was found to be a predictor of both aspects of interpersonal development, suggesting that closer alignment of courses with the recommended quality standards will make them more effective in promoting students' interpersonal capabilities. The qualitative data echo the quantitative findings and reveal that course characteristics, such as meaningful experience, diversity, student voice, and group work, are significant for developing students' interpersonal capabilities.本文旨在探討大學課程中設有服務學習的聯課課程能否促進學生的人際溝通能力，以及課程質素如何影響學習成果。本研究採用混合研究方法，即問卷調查和訪談。調研結果顯示學生自感在人際關係管理能力有所提升，但在察覺他人經驗和感受的能力下降。研究並顯示課程質素能夠預測以上兩項能力的發展，即課程愈能緊扣其質素標準要求，則效能愈高。質性研究也有相同的結果，展示課程的特徵如：有意義的經驗、多元化的體驗、學生的聲音、團隊工作，都是發展有關能力的要素。 Copyright © 2018 HKFYG.