This article describes the outcome of a collaborative project between the Hong Kong Institute of Education and four secondary schools that aims to promote the development of scientific investigation skills. The project team designed scientific investigation tasks collaboratively with the teachers and provided school-based support when the tasks were implemented. A total of six teachers and 575 students were involved. Data were collected through questionnaires completed by the students and individual interviews with science teachers about their classroom practice after the completion of the project. The findings suggest that the students did not meet many difficulties and that there were positive influences on students' interest in learning science. The teachers perceived that there were challenges related to raising students' self-regulated learning abilities, structuring tasks that were at appropriate levels of difficulty, and promoting group cooperation among the students. Finally, the article argues that the strategies implemented in this study were effective, though it takes much time and effort to help students develop self-regulated learning abilities. The conclusion suggests that teachers consider these challenges collectively and proposes a two-staged model for planning scientific investigation tasks.
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Traditionally, teachers in Hong Kong schools have used formal tests and examinations to generate summative assessment data for rank ordering students. However, recent education reform, supported by research on science learning, has led to a demand for profound changes in assessment practices, including the adoption of methods novel to many teachers. This paper explores the views of junior secondary science teachers regarding the implementation of alternative assessment tasks in science classes and provides insight into the type and level of support required to facilitate the recommended changes. The findings have implications for the prospects of shifting the current culture of science assessment in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for supporting teachers in achieving changes in their assessment practices.
[Copyright of Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, & Technology Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14926150609556699]

The field experience component in the four year Bachelor of Education programme (Primary) at The Hong Kong Institute of Education offers a number of opportunities for students to observe or teach in a school. The aim of this article is to analyse the learning of the studentVteachers and the supporting teachers during the field experience period in the second and the final years of the programme and to explain this learning using a sociocultural view of learning. StudentVteachers and their supporting teachers in their second year of study in 1999-2000 as well as those in their final year of study in 2001-02 were interviewed. The findings describe the professional development of the studentVteachers and the construction of knowledge in teaching. The article analyses the role of supporting teachers as social agents, and describes their use of mediational means, including teaching resources, and information about pupils abilities and habits, in facilitating the learning of the studentVteachers. The findings also compare the sharing of aims between the lecturers and the supporting teachers. Finally, the paper summarizes suggestions on how professional development of the student-teachers during the field experience may be analysed by adopting a sociocultural view of learning.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530500200259 ]