This paper reports on the effectiveness and practicality of abstracting essential pedagogical methods that aim to promote high level thinking among junior secondary science students. Strategies include intensive professional development programme and design of lesson materials that can be integrated into the existing science curriculum in the Hong Kong schools. The professional development workshops focus on the distinction between the “Cognitive Skills Enhancing Lessons” (CSE) and regular science lessons. Teachers were stimulated to discuss ways to get students to discuss, think about and respond to teachers’ questions, and to ask questions. Classroom implementations of the CSE teaching materials tailor-made for the Hong Kong junior secondary science curriculum were initiated for 3 secondary two classes. The paper reports on the findings from the pre and post interviews, as well as interviews during the classroom implementations with all the participating teachers and a sample of 6 students from each class. Findings report on what teachers think about the CSE method, their general feelings about using CSE, their comments on the materials, the difficulties (if any) they met, the benefits to students and the perceived feasibility of implementing CSE-infused science activities designed by the project team in local classrooms.

Under the impetus of the Hong Kong education reform, curriculum development has brought a whole new range of perspectives with an emphasis on "Learning to Learn". Schools are encouraged to formulate their own curriculum development plan according to their individual situation and readiness. (Curriculum Development Council, 2001a). This School-Based Science Curriculum Development (SBSCD) project was established to echo the need for professional guidance and support in this area, with a focus in science education. The SBSCD project is one of the initiatives under the Hong Kong Schools Around the World (HKSAW) project funded by the Quality Education Fund. The benefits of mobilizing the resources from the Schools Around the World project in the SBSCD project is explained in the paper. This project, with a participation of seven schools, was designed for one academic term and has adopted an interactive approach embedded within three main phases: planning, implementation and evaluation. The aim of this short-term project is to reveal a naturalistic model of SBSCD that may lead the participating schools to realize their future science curriculum directions. Instruments were developed to obtain data on the school's existing situation as relevant to the SBSCD implementation, to investigate factors affecting the interaction between the schools and the HKSAW Curriculum Development Team, and to find out teachers' awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of their own teaching after the SBSCD. This paper serves as a preliminary report of this case study. Therefore, its main purpose is not to report on empirical findings, but rather to define the factors for the above study areas and to provide an initial reference on the process of implementation for school practitioners.
[Copyright © 2002 HKIEd APFSLT.]

本文分析了就讀香港教育學院教師教育證書課程部份學員的經驗。為培育學員教授科學課題，教師教育課程引入了一個專為教授科學課題而設的單元，討論好幾種科學教學方法，尤其是跟建構主義學習觀相符的教授方式。本研究旨在探討學員在三個階段的發展情況，分別為：學習單元前、完成單元後和實習期過後三階段。學員需在每個階段接受訪問，而他們對教授科學課題的看法、作為學校教師的感受以及個人學習教學技巧的經驗等都被收集以作分析之用。綜合資料所得，本文將進一步總結影響學員學習發展的因素。
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

現有的小學數學課程綱要 (1983) 和提議中的新修訂課程綱要 (2001) 都把「引起兒童對數學學習的興趣」列為課程目標的第一點。作者試圖在這篇文章中討論個課程綱要在內容上如何配合這個課程目標。並且討論如何由這些數學內容和教學方法達到引起兒童學習數學的目的。 香港小學數學課程，無論是1983年的板本抑或是2001年的修訂課程初稿，「引起兒童對數學學習的興趣」列為課程目標的第一點，都把內容分為5個範圍，它們是數、圖形與空間、度量、數據處理和代數。單從內容上來說，它們可以是很中性，能否引起兒童學習數學的興趣，似乎依賴老師的教學方法能否把單調的內容教得生動有趣，例如，有些老師利用比賽的形式和獎品的鼓勵，把一課四則計算變數成人人參與的數學計算課，而且興高采烈 (請先不要討論外在動機和內在動機的問題)。例如，利用數學探究的方式，研究利用1,9,9,8這4個數字，四則運算和括號去組成結果等於0,1,2,…,20的數式。這個過程可以令學生在做四則計算題時更有趣味。有經驗的老師應該可以利用一些趣味數學課題，穿插在既定的課程內，提高數學學習的興趣。 不過，老師有多能耐，仍然要從課程中尋找教材和由課程指導設計教學活動，故此，數學課程的編排，內容的取捨和相互關係，以及課程的取向，都影響老師的教學和目標的配合。假若課程取向和內容根本不能發展學生的興趣，則老師再努力亦會有巧婦難為無米之的感覺。 課程內容寫得再好亦要看看整體的教育配合，假若小學教育工作者都以中學派位作為取向，則課程寫得再好，在考試導向下，很難達成課程希望的目標。其次是老師的培訓，很多人誤以為教授小學數學不必具備太多的中文學科知識，直到大家驚覺到語文水平的低落，才亡羊補牢，提出多種辦法來挽救。其實類似情形亦同樣發生在數學科，不過大家的注意力都放在語文科身上，忽略了數學老師的培訓問題。

本文主要描述學員於香港一個教師教育課程的實踐經驗。為培訓學員教授科學科的方法，該課程包含科學教學單元，討論不同的科學教學取向，尤以建構主義學習觀為重點。導師推行了一連串的教學策略，包括：點出學員過往經驗的重要性、身體力行所鼓吹的理念、鼓勵學員作出反思。在比較學員修讀科學教學單元前，以及於教學實習過後，都可見該單元對學員的科學教學效能理念有所影響。研究結果顯示，學員對科學教學更添信心，了解更多激發學生參與活動的方法，亦明白付出的努力並無白費。本文根據研究結果，並以社會文化學習觀為依歸，解釋學員的學習情況。

香港的科學課程正邁向綜合的道路。小學科學已由傳統的分科課程架構逐漸融入於跨學科課程架構之內。所以筆者認為一套能夠融合學科與跨學科取向的課程結構對發展科學教育是必需的。本文嘗試提出一個四層課程架構，希望進一步幫助讀者理清科學課程與跨學科課程之間的關係。同時，也希望就如何協調兩種取向，向課程發展者提供一些實質的建議。
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The emphasis on all round development and life-wide learning as proposed in the recent Education Reform in Hong Kong suggests that students should be exposed to a broader experience to help them understand their abilities and aptitudes. Developing school-based curriculum materials is one means to support the learning and teaching in schools. This paper reports on the collaborative work between the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) and some secondary schools in developing school-based curriculum materials in technology education. Initial ideas on the curriculum topics for implementation were first discussed with teachers during school visits by Institute staff. These ideas were further developed during the period of school teachers’ attachment in the Institute. The materials were piloted in the schools concerned and student feedbacks were solicited on their attitudes towards the teaching and learning materials. The general responses from the students were encouraging and they favoured the use of modern technology that helped facilitate their understanding of the subject matters.