Noting that there are few studies conducted in Hong Kong to clarify the critical issues of the teaching of science process skills at the primary schooling level, the author made an effort to investigate primary teachers’ perceptions concerning the teaching of the skills. A total of 159 General Studies (GS) teachers in 30 primary schools responded to a questionnaire survey. The analysis shows that, first, 68.6% of GS teachers had not studied science at the matriculation level and in post-secondary courses, with many of them had had studied science merely up to F.3 level. Second, secondary science education is a crucial training in building up primary teachers’ self-perceived ability in teaching science process skills. And third, the teachers themselves were deficient in such high-level science process skills as inferring, predicting, formulating hypotheses, and investigating. Implications are discussed.
[Copyright © 2002 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

As a form of school-based management (SBM), the School Management Initiative (SMI) reform in Hong Kong provides a framework for more teacher participation in decision making. This exploratory study aimed to provide a preliminary investigation of the characteristics of participative decision making in schools after implementing the SMI scheme by using a 3-dimensional model and both quantitative and qualitative methods. There were two SMI schools, two principals, and 105 teachers involved in the study. The findings revealed a deprivation state in decision making regarding issues of managerial and technical domains at individual, group and school levels in the sampled schools, but teachers in general had shown a positive attitude towards the opportunities for more participation provided with the implementation of the SMI scheme. Also there were strong interactions between decision domains and levels of decision issues in predicting teacherparticipation discrepancies. The characteristics of participation patterns revealed are interesting and can provide useful information for facilitating implementation of the SMI scheme and teacher participation in decision making. The findings support the usefulness of the 3-dimensional model in studying the patterns of participation in a larger sample of SBM schools, if not all, in both local and international contexts.
[Copyright © 1997 The Chinese University of Hong Kong.]

Teachers from three secondary schools together with the authors initiated a project to develop teaching strategies and resources to implement a new Hong Kong Junior Secondary Science Curriculum (JSSC) introduced in 2000. The teachers met regularly to share their experiences of the teaching designs and classroom practice. Through working together, teachers became mentors and learners of the other teachers. Data were collected from records of teacher meetings, lesson observations, teacher interviews and student interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. Findings of this study revealed that teaching approaches of these teachers changed significantly, particularly towards more student-centred modes of learning. Active student participation encouraged the teachers to explore and try out innovative ways of learning and teaching of science. The positive feedbacks from students stimulated the teachers to reflect their role as facilitators and curriculum decision-makers rather than passive transmitters of the curriculum. To be successful in making changes in the teaching culture, findings indicated that the teachers shared the common goal of delivering quality science education. The change had also to be taken place in a context in which high quality teaching resources developed by the teachers had an impact on pupils' learning. The change was not only on the pedagogical content knowledge applied in classes. It was also a change in the belief in science education. However without the characteristics of a competent teacher such as good science background and good presentation skills, such changes would not be able to succeed.

The School Management Initiative (SMI) is a school-based management (SBM) reform in Hong Kong schools. Reviews on studies of implementation obstacles and strategies of school-based management were huge (e.g. Ornstein, 1983; Wholstetter & Odden, 1992; Leithwood & Menzies, 1996) but experiences from Hong Kong might be ignored. Viewing from multiple perspectives of organizational theory, viz., the structural perspective, the human resource perspective, the political perspective, and the cultural perspective, this paper reviews past literature on SBM researches and reform studies of local schools to identify obstacles and strategies that are applicable to the implementation of the SMI scheme. In terms of the structural perspective, some SMI schools still take the form of Administrative Control hindering the progress of the other two forms, Professional Control SBM and Community Control SBM, because the control of schools are still retained by school sponsoring bodies (SSB). There may remain no clear accountability and role in some schools for key actors who hang onto traditional roles especially for the SSB, the school management committee and the school supervisor. The lack of common goals for key stakeholders in some schools is also an implementation obstacle. The strategies identified to be useful to cope with such obstacles are: to enforce clearer role and accountability on actors at different levels, including government departments, SSB, and site level management; to create participative decision making structure; and to build up common school goals accepted by key stakeholders. For the human resource perspective, obstacles spotted are: the rapid staff turnover in schools with unfavorable conditions; stakeholders' lack of adequate skills and knowledge; the increased stress and pressure on teachers and administrators due to more involvement in school management and appraisal system; and the insufficient time and resources available for teaching and related work. The

General Studies (GS), implemented in Hong Kong primary schools in 1994, integrates the three subjects of Science, Health Education and Social Studies. The integration of primary subjects makes a sharp contrast with the situation in the past when teachers were teaching separate subjects. As a result, many teachers previously without science background may have been drafted in to teach the domain of science and technology of GS. The most severe obstacle to the improvement of science in primary schools in the UK found by inspectors is that "many existing teachers lack a working knowledge of elementary science appropriate to the children of his age" (cited in Harlen et al., 1995, p.4). There have been a number of researches studying the teaching of science and technology in primary schools but very few are conducted in Hong Kong where GS is implemented without precedent. Further to the paper entitled 'Primary teachers' confidence in teaching science and technology' on the quantitative findings presented at the International Conference on Teacher Education 1999, this paper reports the result of the qualitative part of a research project on primary teachers' self-perceived confidence in teaching different subjects and in teaching the area of 'science and technology' of the GS curriculum. Five teachers were invited for interviews to probe their background and the confidence in teaching the areas of science and technology of the GS curriculum. The study has identified the factors affecting teachers' confidence in primary science and technology in Hong Kong and identified the effects due to low confidence on teachers' practice. In addition, teachers' pinions about the existing GS curriculum were gathered.

With the introduction of School Management Initiative (SMI) in Hong Kong schools in recent years, teachers' participation in decision making becomes one of the main themes in school management. By employing a model made of three dimensions, namely decision domain, decision level and decision involvement pattern, this study aims to investigate the patterns, processes and consequences of teachers' participation in decision making in SMI schools. The research adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods in studying two secondary SMI schools. A questionnaire was developed to survey teachers' involvement pattern of making decisions on the issues of technical and managerial domains at individual, group and school levels. 19 teachers from a SMI school participated in a pilot study to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. After a slight revision of the questionnaire as a result of the pilot study, teachers from the two subject schools participated in the questionnaire survey. A total of 105 copies of the questionnaire were distributed through a teacher at each of the two subject schools and there were 84 valid responses giving a return rate of 80 percent. Then the two principals and fourteen teachers from the two subject schools were interviewed to collect information for validating the results of involvement pattern obtained in the questionnaire survey and for studying the processes and consequences of participative decision making. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed into verbatim. Besides, documentary analysis on school profiles, plans, reports and magazines provided information supplementary to the interviews. Quantitative data were run with the statistical package of SPSS for Windows 6.1" while qualitative data were analyzed with the prepared theoretical framework. The results suggested the following points: 1. Teachers were more actively participated and more satisfied with the conditions for making decision after their schools

In Hong Kong, the General Studies (GS) has been a core primary curriculum, which integrates three former separate subjects, Primary Science, Social Studies and Health Education, since 1994. The rationale of such an integrated curriculum is to help pupil understand the inter-relationship between people, things and their environment so that they can acquire knowledge and skills and develop positive attitudes in a holistic way. Proponents of curriculum integration claim that a good integrated subject is able to achieve more aims than those from separate subjects. An integrated curriculum should provide wider and better learning outcomes than that from learning through separate subjects. Within the context of an integrated curriculum for primary students in Hong Kong, this study aimed at identifying the intended curriculum features of the GS Curriculum. The study also intended to probe the extent of the curriculum features implemented in classrooms. A total of 189 teachers participated in a questionnaire survey. By using the method of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, this study identified four major curriculum features in this integrated curriculum, namely, "holistic learning", "relevancy to learners' life", "development of problem–solving skills" and the "Society-Technology-Society (STS) approach". Results of this study also revealed that teachers perceived the existence of these four intended features in the GS Curriculum and the gaps between the curriculum intention and the real-classroom situation.

A new Junior Secondary Science Curriculum (JSSC) has been implemented in Hong Kong since September 2000. Developing pupils' problem-solving skills is one of the main aims of the new curriculum. This case study analyzes how teachers create environments to develop pupils' problem-solving skills through teaching a science theme entitled "The wonderful solvent—water" in Hong Kong junior secondary classrooms. Data were collected from classroom observation and post-lesson interviews. By demonstrating series of events that made up the entire learning experience of the students in classrooms, this article will illustrate how students carried out problem=solving processes, which include generating ideas, making interpretations and judgments, and using strategies to manage the complexity of situations. This study experiments are adopted in science lessons. Finding s also indicated that students are well motivated and their skills can be enhanced if decision-making authorities in designing setups, procedures and ways in solving scientific or technical problems have been devolved to them.

Science is no longer taught as a separate primary subject in Hong Kong after the implementation of General Studies (GS), which integrated three disciplines, viz., Primary Science, Social Studies and Health Education. Science achievements of 333 fourth-grade pupils were compared with results of past Hong Kong pupils participating in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The findings revealed that the GS Curriculum did not produce better or worse overall results of pupils' science knowledge than the previous Primary Science Curriculum in Hong Kong.
現行香港的小學常識科課程把科學科、社會科及健康教育科綜合起來。常識科推行後，在香港的小學課程中再沒有獨立的科學科科目。本文將333 位小四學生的科學成績和『第三屆國際數學與科學研究』(TIMSS)的結果作比較，發現以常識科模式學習科學，學生的科學成績與從前以獨立科學科學習科學之整體成績相若
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]