What is learning and how could the learning in mathematics be enhanced has fallen into debate for many years. Singapore rank number one in both TIMSS and PISA in 2015. What are the insights we could earned from such competition? Regarding to the facts that Singapore is one of the first countries in implementing the metacognition into their mathematics curriculum in 1990s (Chan & Leung, 2013), metacognition may possible be the answer we are searching for. There is no doubt that textbooks take a very important role in this. White & Mesa (2014) indicated that lecturer rely highly on textbook in their teaching especially the tasks assigned. However, researches with textbooks related to mathematical content and researches on their potential in developing metacognitive knowledge are limited (Mesa, 2004; Mesa, 2010). Especially, comparisons between metacognitive strategies among textbooks in different countries are very limited. Thus the following questions are proposed to be investigated. 1. Does mathematics textbook emphasis enough metacognitive strategies in enhancing students' metacognition? 2. Does the pattern of using metacognitive strategies in mathematics textbooks different among countries/cities? The assessment is divided as seven categories: think aloud, questioning, self-questioning, error detection, group activity, alternative strategies and reflection. It is identical to those suggested by Chan and Leung (2013). Result shows that think aloud is the most popular strategy used in textbooks among Singapore, British and Hong Kong. However, other strategies weight about only 20% in total. It is suggested that more metacognitive ingredients could be added in textbooks in enhancing students' metacognition.

Use of Textbooks: Textbooks, which reflects the curriculum, are an important informant to portray the intended curriculum (Johansson, 2003). They are absolutely a valuable source for teachers (Stodolsky, 1999; Remillard, 2005; Tarr et al., 2006). The research on textbooks benefits substantively to the understanding of a curriculum in a particular region (Thaqi & Gimenez, 2016). Outstanding Performance in Some Regions: Mathematics learning in some Asian regions interests many educators, as the students from these regions have outperformed others in several worldwide mathematical assessments. The PISA report highlights that more than a quarter of students from each of the top-performing regions: Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China), Hong Kong (China) and Chinese Taipei could mathematically verbalize complicated problems (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, 2016). Another renowned international assessment TIMSS also shows that almost half (i.e. 47-49%) of students at Secondary 2 in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong reach the advanced international benchmark (Mullis et al., 2012). The textbooks adopted by these Asian countries or regions are definitely worth referencing. Textbook Content Analysis: This study selected one textbook from each of these Asian regions and their content was decoded according to a proposed framework called Assessment-Background-Content textbook analysis, which was developed from the textbook context analysis of Incikabi & Tjoe (2013), Huntley (2008), Alajmi (2012) and National Research Council (2004). Textbooks were coded according to their lesson components. Pickle (2012) adapted from Jones’s (2004) coding suggested ten lesson components in identifying units in the textbooks. The ten components include description, definition, question, activity, worked example, oral exercise, follow-up practice, highlight, project, and reflection (Pickle, 2012, p.51). Textbooks in Asian Regions: The proposed presentation will compare the

One key element in changing societies is the advent and the use of computers. Computers are ubiquitous nowadays. There is no exception for education. The explorations of using computer packages like Mathematica, Maple V, and Cabri-Geometre in mathematics education have been reported in various Mathematics Education Journals. The applications of software to teach primary and secondary mathematics are also found in conferences. These developments indicate that it is time for us to investigate the potential of applying computer technology in mathematics education and the implications for our aims of mathematics education. Two of our speakers, Mr. Kong and Mr. Leung, will choose Exel as a software for exploration in this conference. The reasons for choosing Excel have twofold: 1. Almost all schools in Hong Kong have licensed Excel copies; and 2. Excel has both computational and graphical capabilities which formulate great potential for teaching crucial mathematical notions and can serve as tools for mathematical exploration. Kong and Eeung will demonstrate how Excel can be used for the teaching of the statistical notions of central tendency and deviation and as the exploration tool for solving arithmetic problems. Dr. Man will discuss how Maple V, one of the modern symbolic computer softwares, can be used in teaching primary mathematics topics, such as finding prime numbers, greatest common divisors, least common multiples, etc. He will also demonstrate how to use Maple' s worksheet structure to prepare notes or examples for discussion purposes in class. Besides, if time is permitted, he will also try to demonstrate how one can make use of Maple' s graphical abilities in teaching some chosen topics in the current primary mathematics curriculum. After the exploration of using computer packages in teaching and learning mathematics, Mr. Ng will discuss the implications of the use of computers for the mathematics education: Is it possible for computers to reproduce the achievements

There have been rapid changes in the economic, social and technological situations of Hong Kong in the last two decades. Because of these, the education systems and policies have changed accordingly. Have these changes affected the primary mathematics education? The official curricula for primary mathematics at different time spans may give us some hints to the answers for this question. The present study is based on the comparison of three official curricula for primary mathematics set in 1973, 1983 and 1995 respectively and one officially drafted version of primary mathematics curriculum disclosed in 1997. It is found that the 1973 curriculum just served as guidelines for mathematical contents of the public examination for Primary Six students. There are five overall objectives clearly stated in the official curriculum of Primary Mathematics printed in 1983. Compared to the one in 1973, it is much more student-centered. This syllabus is now still the main one used by mathematics teachers and book publishers, though a new curriculum initiative named "Target Oriented Curriculum" has been introduced since 1993. This new initiative emphasizes clearly defined learning objectives and outcomes. In the drafted curriculum for 2001, the new topic of "Probability" and the uses of calculators and computers are introduced. This paper elaborates the changes and discusses their implications for pre-service and in-service mathematics teacher education.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Government (HKSAR) has been encouraging the teaching professionals at all levels to apply Information Technology (IT) in education. The general public usually connects IT in education with computer-assisted instruction (CAI), computer-assisted learning (CAL), and information search in the internet. In fact, IT can bring in other advantages such as developing a continuous and dynamic approach to educational testing. At present, the common practice of paper-and-pencil testing (P&P) is that all examinees are arranged to receive the same set of test questions at the same time-slot. One of the major shortcomings of this arrangement is that competent examinees may waste time to answer simple questions while low ability examinees may face challenging questions that could destroy their confidence in the subject. This practice is actually against a very basic educational principle: catering for individual needs. With the availability of powerful personal computers and the advancement of psychometric measurement, tailoring tests to individual's ability becomes much easily realized. A system that delivers tailor-made tests for individuals using computer with certain item selection program is called Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT). As CAT has many advantages over the traditional P&P, it is becoming prevalent in many advanced countries. However, CAT also has shortcomings. For example, it cannot measure certain kinds of mathematics abilities. This paper will describe the general background and the current development of CAT and particularly will discuss in more details the potentials and limits of using CAT for Mathematics assessment.

In a recent large scale survey for collecting opinions and perceptions of primary school principals on teacher education, teacher competence and teacher quality, 528 school heads had responded. Descriptive summaries are stated in the report of Contextual Analysis for Programme Development of Hong Kong Institute of Education. Further analysis was done later for academic interest. In a question asking for principal's perceptions on teacher performance, 18 performance attitudes or styles each having five responses (Strongly Agree, Agree, No Idea, Disagree and Strongly Disagree) are suggested. Factor analysis with varimax rotation generates 3 factors with eigenvalue greater than l.The first factor is of our interest since it explains almost 40% of variation of the data and can be interpreted as a contrast of positive attitudes/styles versus negative ones. The factor scores and four potential explanatory variables (Age, Gender, Qualifications and School-type) were fit into an ANOVA model. It was found that age and gender show no significant difference in the perception. But both qualification and school-type exhibit significant effect on it. Moreover, the interaction of these two factors is significant. Principals who have not completed or started any local Bed program feel very happy with the performance of teachers. On the contrary, those having or studying a local Bed degree appear to be more demanding and are not so satisfied with the performance of teachers. The heads of special schools with a local Bed degree and those without one form two extreme groups in this aspect. The findings cast some light on the leadership of principles of various qualifications and school-type.