Amidst the various demands created by curriculum reforms in Hong Kong, the core business of schools - 'high quality teaching and learning' - has become the focus of attention. Teachers and schools are vested with the responsibilities to put the reform ideals into practice. Schools are accountable for improving student learning outcomes, the empowerment of teachers through mentoring, peer review and appraisal, and turning themselves into learning organisations. This paper describes how Learning Study, which initially started as a modest project to find ways to cater for individual differences in mainstream schools in Hong Kong, became a powerful tool for schools to achieve the aims mentioned above. We did this in a series of projects by using Learning Study as a major component of a mentoring system, which resulted in the creation of learning communities in schools, with a focus on teaching and learning. Such a system benefited all teachers involved, both novice and experienced. Starting with only two schools in 1999, schools in the Learning Study network rapidly expanded to over 100 in 2004, and in the next three years, at least another 120 schools will join the network. The success of Learning Study in Hong Kong will be analysed under the following factors: its conceptual framework, methodology, partnership with higher education institutions, positioning, reform context and culture, and dissemination strategy. Its potential in moving towards improving the status of the profession as a whole will also be discussed.

It is widely recognised that teachers' professional development is greatly enhanced through their participation in professional discourse. Professional discourse is a structured form of professional conversation that is widely used in lesson analysis and pre and post-lesson conferencing, within the contexts of mentoring and peer review. In Hong Kong, lesson observation and analysis also arise when conducting Learning Study. In these various contexts, conversation often turns on reconciling different interpretations and understandings of classroom events. When conducting a lesson (teacher talk) and in pre and post-lesson analysis (teacher conversation), meanings are not simply articulated, they are also created. Moreover, the meanings expressed by teachers when both teaching and analysing lessons are not stable; they are in process and change over time. The paper will outline these ideas in detail, with particular emphasis on lesson conferencing, building on the work previously undertaken by one of the authors on the hermeneutics of professional discourse. The conceptual framework discussed in the paper will provide the basis of a research programme that will shortly be undertaken in Hong Kong, as a component of a major government sponsored project conducting Learning Studies in both primary and secondary schools.

This paper describes how a team of teachers and researchers in Hong Kong worked together to develop a research lesson on electro-chemical series in a Learning Study at Secondary 4 level in the subject of Chemistry. Learning study is premised on a conceptual framework that builds on three types of variation: variation in students' understanding of a specific object of learning (V1); variation in teachers' understanding and ways of handling the object (V2); and the use of patterns of variation based on the Theory of Variation (V3). The study reported in this paper illustrates how the conceptual framework, in particular, the use of patterns of variation, helps to enhance student learning. In this study, the same teacher taught the research lesson in two cycles to two Secondary 4 Chemistry classes in the same school. The two cycles of research lesson were videotaped, analyzed and triangulated with the student learning outcomes in a diagnostic test administered before and after the lesson, and a post-lesson group interview with a sample of students. Whereas the theoretical framework of variation was employed to analyze what patterns of variation were created and hence what was made possible to learn in the lessons, the results of the pre- and post- test were compared to trace the students' progress in categories of questions that measured for their understanding. In the research lesson, patterns of variation which served the functions of ìseparation and ìgeneralization were used to help the students to understand how the electro-chemical series is derived, and to discern that the order of the metals in the series and the potential difference between any two given metals are constant and independent of the reference metal used. The student learning outcomes showed that there was substantial growth in the students' understanding of these concepts.

香港的中學中國語文科已用單元教學，然而如何組單元才較有效呢？至到目前為上，似乎仍沒有定論。教統局的文件中沒有特別強調要求教師用甚麼模式來組單元，但卻有單元的示例；很明顯，這些示例是以學習的能力作為組單元的要素。這些資料有參考的價值，但並不表示所有中國語文科的老師，都會用這種方式來組單元的，用文體來組單元是其中一個較多老師會用的方法。這種組單元的方式是無可厚非的，因為老師過往的學習或教學都是以文體為主，較易掌握；同時可以利用舊課程的文章，這些文章有教科書可以參考，教起來會比較容易。不過，有些老師及出版社對文體分類的認識不深 (特別是古典文學的文體)，分類的時候便出現問題。如果將錯誤從文體組成單元給學生學習，自然會影響學習的成效。本文嘗試從文體分類的角度來探討組單元時出現的問題，並就著這些問題提出一些教學上可行的建議。

合作學習是一種以小組形式進行的教學策略，組員藉著互相幫助去提升大家的學習成效，包括認知及情意兩方面。在合作學習的小組中，各成員對小組都有貢獻。每個成員在某項活動上擁有不同的資訊和材料，掌握不同的知識和技能，所以任何成員都沒法單獨把活動完成，於是他們互相交流，合力把問題解決。合作學習在香港雖然比較陌生，但它是本地課程改革的其中一種有效教學策略。本研究探討學生在合作學習上遇到的困難，對象是兩間小學的198名學生。研究員透過觀課及學生訪談，嘗試探討有關問題。結果發現學生在合作學習上遇到不少問題，例如：組員互相交流知識時，能力低的組員較難表達自己、部分組員趁小組討論時談天說地、小組討論聲浪嘈吵及小組討論引起衝突。有些問題好像表達上希困難，顯示教師在實施合作學習之前未有學生提供足夠的說話訓練。另外一些問題，如組員之間的衝突，教師可以從旁協助，不過最重要的是教師要藉此讓學生嘗試自行處理，方能更有效發揮合作學習的優點，提升他們學習的成效及與人相處的技巧。教改帶來教學實踐的改變，課堂上的合作學習方式對教師和學生都是一項重大的挑戰。新的教學實踐有賴教師對學與教概念上的轉變。