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.

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).

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 paper investigated online collaborative learning on students' learning outcomes in higher education with an online platform called GMoodle that was implemented at The Education University of Hong Kong. To discover the benefits and drawbacks of online collaborative learning, students were invited to join this exploratory study and complete the pre and post questionnaires to evaluate their learning outcomes. The quantitative and qualitative studies of 75 undergraduate students were conducted based on the questionnaires and focus group interviews, and the results showed that students' learning outcomes especially self-management skills and collaborative skills were enhanced through the online collaborative activities. Before launching GMoodle, trainings were provided for the in-service and pre-service teachers. Most of them reflected that GMoodle is a useful platform for educators to understand students' learning progress, promote active collaboration and facilitate team teaching across different disciplines. Not only the students but also the teachers benefited from this online learning platform for collaborative learning, fair assessment, and team teaching. Copyright © 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.

The paper reports on an empirical study on adopting an innovative pedagogical design in project-based learning to improve upper primary students' problem solving skills in science learning. A Grade 6 class in a Hong Kong primary school was involved in this study. The findings show that the students produced high group artifacts/projects in problem-solving quality and were positive in facing challenges in their project-based learning process. This indicates that project-based learning with PF instructional design can be an effective way to develop students' problem solving skills. Copyright © 2018 authors.

Numerous studies have shown that the Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme can promote the development of critical thinking. Meanwhile, it is arguable that the emphasis of Confucianism on creating a hierarchical and harmonious society can easily lead to submission rather than opposition, producing a conformist rather than a critical mind. A question arises here as to whether Confucianism tends to denigrate criticism and thus hinder the development of critical thinking through P4C in Hong Kong. In this chapter, I first argue that Confucianism still has a profound influence on the Chinese in the modern world. I then examine the connection between Confucianism and criticism, focusing on how Confucianism is critical. Finally, I report the results of the first systematic study that assesses the effectiveness of P4C in promoting children’s critical thinking in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Chi-Ming Lam; individual chapters, the contributors.

The term critical thinking has received much attention over the past few decades in both Western and Eastern countries and regions. From 1990s onwards, the Hong Kong educational authority undertook a series of educational reforms in order to encourage a new generation in critical thinking. In the New Senior Secondary curriculum – which commenced in 2009 - Liberal Studies is one of the core subjects in which the aim is to promote critical thinking among senior high school students. Despite this intention, there is no clear definition of what critical thinking is. The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher and student conceptions of critical thinking in Liberal Studies; and the relationship between these two conceptions. Fourteen teachers teaching Form 5 (Year 11) Liberal Studies in four secondary schools in Hong Kong, along with their 480 Secondary 5 students, completed a questionnaire consisting of 40 definers of critical thinking, and one teacher and eight students from each school participated in interviews. The results indicated that both teachers and students emphasised the skills dimension of critical thinking; and explicit and implicit relationships between teacher and student conceptions of critical thinking were found. The results have important implications for teacher education, as well as the successful implementation of Liberal Studies as a subject in the Senior Secondary Curriculum. All rights reserved.

In Hong Kong children aged 4-6 years old are taught Chinese characters writing in local preschools. Non-Chinese speaking (NCS) preschool children are affected by the differences between their mother language and Chinese when they are given similar Chinese writing exercises in the preschools. This study aimed to investigate how Chinese preschool teachers taught Chinese characters writing in local preschools and how NCS preschool children learnt to write Chinese characters in an authentic classroom. Three parts of ‘Object of Learning’ were employed in this phenomenographic study. The first part was ‘Intended Object of Learning’, in which data were collected through semi-structured interviews with participating teachers. It aimed to study the teachers’ understanding of the teaching of character writing to the preschool children. The second part was ‘Enacted Object of Learning’, whose data were recorded by the researcher about how the teachers implemented their character writing activities in the class. The third part, ‘Lived Object of Learning’ concerned how the NCS children, who were 5 to 6 years old, performed after they had experienced the character writing activities. This study investigated the mentioned experiences of teachers and NCS children of upper level in 3 local preschools. A total of 4 preschool teachers and 12 NCS preschool children participated in this present study. The time period was twice a week, especially during their daily Chinese character writing demonstration times, for twelve consecutive weeks. The researcher used various methods to collect data, including video- and audiotaping, field notes, photographic documentation, collection of lesson plans and interviews. The findings were compiled using ‘Categories of Descriptions’, which reflected the preschool teachers‟ and NCS preschool children’s ways of seeing Chinese characters writing in their daily classroom experiences. In the first part of the findings five teachers’ conceptions from their understanding

自 2000 年課程改革以來，教育局提倡幫助學生達至全人發展的目標和發展終身學習的能力，以「全方位學習」的概念，鼓勵把學習空間從課室拓展到其他環境，推展一系列的「體驗式學習」，「其他學習經歷」便是以此理念推行的一個高中課程組成部份，約佔總課時百分之十至十五。體驗式學習並不是新猷，是世界各地教育的主要教學模式之一。有別於正規課堂學習，體驗式學習着重利用多樣化的環境和社區資源，配合時、地、人各方面所組成的學習情境，達至一個「體驗式學習循環」，需包括具體體驗(Concrete experience)、觀察及反省(Observation & reflection)、總結體驗(Forming abstract concepts)及實踐應用(Testing in new situations)。由於體驗式學習需要不同的資源投入，校本情況不一。為使每一位學生尤其是基層學生得到公平的學習機會，「大教育平台」積極為中學提供體驗式學習活動並有意檢討體驗式學習在香港推行的成效。香港政策研究所教育政策研究中心得到大教育平台資助，於 2017 年 7 月至 2018年 9 月期間，邀請全港五間中學作一年的追蹤研究，研究分別以問卷調查及學生訪談形式進行。問卷調查利用教育局的情意及社交表現評估套件(第二版)，加上企業精神、STEM 技能、人文價值的 APASO+問卷，及活動檢討問卷，分別於 2016/17 學年末及2017/18 學年初收集，共收到 414 個有效回應，了解學生在情意及社交表現的變化。學生訪談以小組及個人形式進行，深入探討學生對「體驗式學習」的感受及意見。Since the curriculum reform in 2000, the Education Bureau has been advocating to help student achieve whole-person development and lifelong learning. The concept of Life-wide learning encourages the extension of learning from the classroom to social environment through a series of experiential learning, Other Learning Experience (OLE) in the senior secondary curriculum, which accounts for 10-15% of total class hours, is one of the examples. Experiential learning is not a recent term, but one of the major teaching models in the world. Apart from formal learning in the classroom, experiential learning emphasizes using diversified environment and community resources to reach an experiential learning circle, including concrete experience, observation and reflection, concluding abstract concept and practical application. As experiential learning requires different resources input and school-based situations are varied, Big Education Platform, which actively provides experiential learning for secondary schools in Hong Kong, has the aim to review the effectiveness of these activities, on the participating students. Hong Kong Policy Research Institute was funded by Big Education Platform to conduct an impact study in five secondary schools, including a questionnaires survey and student focus group discussion