Background Despite the focus of many global education systems on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, research on teachers' concerns about this relatively new educational phenomenon remains scarce. Purpose This study used the concerns-based adoption model as the theoretical framework to examine the primary concerns expressed by teachers about STEM education and identified a typology of teachers based on the response patterns of their concerns. Sample A regionally representative sample of 331 primary and secondary school teachers of STEM-related subjects in Hong Kong participated in this study. Design and methods Data were collected from the teachers through an online, self-reported survey. Latent class analysis was used to profile teachers' concerns about STEM education in this study, and multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to regress the latent class outcome variable on the covariates. Results The majority of the teachers reported high levels of concern at all five stages of STEM education implementation, namely evaluation, information, management, consequence, and refocusing. Latent class analysis revealed three classes of teachers who were extremely concerned (49.1%), considerably concerned (43.5%), or moderately concerned (7.4%) about STEM education. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that the teaching sector (primary or secondary) and participation in STEM education training significantly contributed to the prediction of the latent class outcome variable. Conclusion Given that 96% of the teachers in this study were trained in STEM education through workshops, seminars, courses, and trips, these findings highlight the necessity of designing personalized professional learning experiences for teachers and provide empirically supported evidence to indicate teachers' preparedness and readiness to adopt STEM education as an educational innovation and directions for future research in related areas. This

Around the world the prevalence of mathematics anxiety and disengagement point to a poor sense of student 'mathematical wellbeing'. Mathematical wellbeing is defined here as the fulfilment of one's ultimate or core values, accompanied by positive feelings and functioning in mathematics education. Yet student wellbeing and how to support it in specific school subjects including mathematics is vastly under-researched. Also, despite outperforming other countries in international mathematics assessments, East Asian students generally appear to experience poor affect and high academic burden in mathematics education, which are indicative of poor mathematical wellbeing. In this context, this explorative and descriptive study investigates the values that are associated with the mathematical wellbeing of a cohort of Chinese primary school students. 258 Grade three students in Chengdu, China responded to a questionnaire which explored teacher-nominated mathematics learning moments that students valued most for their mathematical wellbeing. Findings pointed to students valuing all the learning moments to some extent, with good grades, fun and interest, mathematics-themed videos, and teacher praise rated most commonly for wellbeing. The values underlying these learning moments are similar to the seven mathematical wellbeing dimensions found in Australian classrooms. The findings also highlight the cultural subjectivities involved, in which the same classroom actions can reflect different underlying values across cultures, and in which a particular value can be espoused in different ways in different places. We also look ahead to suggest how teachers might support students' mathematical wellbeing, by recognising and then fulfilling their students' values in the mathematics classroom. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

Felix Klein's notion of double discontinuity between university mathematics and secondary school mathematics has persisted in mathematics teacher education. Situating this study in Hong Kong, we investigated three prospective secondary teachers' experiences in higher education and secondary mathematics classrooms, including their figured worlds, identities, and mathematical knowledge constructed through those experiences. Our analysis revealed their contrasting experiences in these two contexts, adding to our understanding of the phenomenon of double discontinuity in terms of not only how it is relevant to Hong Kong but also how it may manifest in the specific cultural context. Moreover, we found coherency and continuity during the prospective teachers' secondary-tertiary transition; their learning experiences in both environments served as critical resources upon which they reflected to envision their future mathematics teaching. We conclude with implications and suggestions for mathematics teacher education to support prospective teachers' (and their future students') transitions between high school and university mathematics. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

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.

This article begins with a historical overview of the STEM education policy and related classroom practices in Hong Kong. Against the backdrop that the Hong Kong education authority has been promoting STEM education over the past few years, there has been a pressing need for effective strategies of implementing STEM education in the context of reduced class size classrooms (i.e. small class teaching). With a view to addressing this need, this article strives to exemplify the incorporation of STEM education into small class teaching settings. Intended as a conceptual paper drawing on design approaches for STEM lessons and a small class teaching framework, the article demonstrates the relevance of STEM education to small class teaching. Two illustrative lesson design examples are provided to showcase how the design approaches and framework can be operationalised. In addition, the article also offers a thoughtful discussion concerning the potential challenges of delivering the two sample lessons as well as the coping strategies. It contributes to understanding of STEM education theories and provides a valuable reference for educational practitioners. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

One hundred and eighty ethnic minority students studying in Hong Kong mainstream schools were found to value knowledge, activities, practice, product, inquiry, process, feedback, and technology in their mathematics learning. To identify these values, a mixed methods approach was adopted, using a values questionnaire as a lens to identify what students find important in mathematics learning, and followed by semi-structured focus group interviews for details and verification. The data also revealed that ethnic minority students valued activities and practice more than their ethnic Chinese peers. Implications for research and instructional practice are offered. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

We report on an action research study conducted by two mathematics teacher educators in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The project consisted of three phases, the first two taking place in our respective teacher education courses and a final phase in which prospective mathematics teachers from both locations engaged in dialogue through a speculative fiction task. Our aim was to explore how our prospective mathematics teachers can be supported in becoming mathematics teachers for sustainable futures by innovating our own mathematics teacher education curricula. This study suggests that generative methods which support teachers in speculating on paths to potential futures as teachers of mathematics, can provide access to how prospective teachers negotiate issues in relation to the climate crisis and ways in which they conceive of related changes in their practices. By identifying the aspects of mathematics teaching that are viewed by the prospective teachers as contingent, and through offering tasks that support an expansion of this view, teacher educators are better placed to support the development of teaching practices needed for sustainable futures. Copyright © 2022 Taylor & Francis.

This study investigated the status of equity in mathematics education in Hong Kong based on data from TIMSS 2011 to 2019 and the changes in education equity across the three cycles. The effects of various student-, family-, and school-level variables on students’ mathematics achievement were examined and compared using multilevel modeling. Results showed that there were significant variances between schools in mathematics achievement in Hong Kong, especially for eighth grade students. Overall, boys performed better in mathematics than girls in these three TIMSS cycles in Hong Kong, except for eighth grade boys in the cycles of 2011 and 2019. The family and school socio-economic status (SES) related to the possession of traditional materials (e.g., desks and books) and parents’ highest education level had positive and significant effects on students’ mathematics achievement, and the effects of the predictors increased from the 2011 cycle to the 2019 cycle. SES related to the possession of home digital devices (e.g., computers and internet connection) also had positive but much less substantial effects. School location and resource availability did not have significant effects. In general, the mean levels of SES and school resource availability in Hong Kong is improving. However, the effects of some important student- and school-level factors on mathematics achievement increased. Suggestions for improving education equity in Hong Kong are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Springer.

Pre-service mathematics teachers (PSTs) enter university with diverse beliefs and understandings of teaching and learning; yet, they may not be aware of how these conceptions are related to their epistemological and efficacy beliefs. This study explored how the mathematical beliefs, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics teaching efficacy of PSTs predict their teaching and learning conceptions. Participants were 80 PSTs (59.7% men and 40.3% women) who were studying in a 5-year full-time undergraduate degree program at a comprehensive research university in Hong Kong. Multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationships between the PSTs' teaching and learning conceptions and various predictors. The results indicated that mathematical beliefs and personal mathematics teaching efficacy, a component of mathematics teaching efficacy, predicted traditional conceptions. Mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics teaching outcome expectancy, another component of mathematics teaching efficacy, predicted constructivist conceptions. This study yields insights into the different roles of mathematical beliefs, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics teaching efficacy in explaining and predicting the teaching and learning conceptions among PSTs, which demonstrates the potential to inform and improve PSTs' professional learning and development. Copyright © 2022 Springer.