The mixed methods study detailed in this thesis, which involved 238 Higher Diploma of Early Childhood Education students, investigated the influences on the environmental attitudes of pre-service preschool teachers (hereafter, pre-service teachers) in Hong Kong. The research design adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative approach was the dominant method of data collection, and it consisted of a web-based self-administrated survey, namely, the Environmental Attitudes of Pre-service Preschool Teachers Scale (EAPPT Scale), which had 52 items that were measured by a Likert-type scale. The qualitative approach aimed to supplement the quantitative findings, and the method involved three face-to-face focus group interviews. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using Rasch modeling and the thematic approach, respectively.In this study, the Rasch Rating Scale Model (RSM) was utilized to examine the quantitative data of the EAPPT. Person supportiveness and item agreeability were both expressed as probabilistic units (i.e., logits or log-odds) in reference to the same continuum. The Rasch RSM is a probabilistic approach that converts non-linear data (i.e., ordinal data) into linear data (i.e., logits) for the in-depth analysis of psychometric variables.The Rasch modeling analysis found that the EAPPT Scale and its five subscales, namely, education, alternative experiences, beliefs, social interactions, and action potential, fit the Rasch model well, and the respective reliability of the subscales was good. Through the triangulation process, the qualitative results mostly concurred with the quantitative findings. The pre-service teachers’ scores in the action potential domain were comparatively lower than those in the other domains. The most influential factors of the environmental attitudes of the pre-service teachers were in the education and alternative experiences domains. The key findings were encouraging in that, overall, the pre-service

In order to help student teachers to clarify what they know about art, thus to improve the quality of learning and teaching about art for kindergarten teachers, an action research was designed and implemented during the Qualified Kindergarten Teacher Education Course offered by the Hong Kong Institute of Education. This paper presents the changes of conception of art for the student teachers in the course. Before and after the art activities, the students were invited to discuss as well as complete open-ended questionnaires to express their own ideas on art. They were requested to explain what they thought art is for themselves as well as for the early childhood children. It is interesting to find that after they had undergone the process of the project they showed that art is not only for art’s sake. Art activities mean more than an abstract term. Then the relationship between art learning and other aspects of children’s development was identified and disputed.
[Copyright © 2000 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.]

The aim of the paper is to discuss the thinking process of a preschool teacher's knowledge of child development and the concept of creativity in designing art activities. The design of an art curriculum will reflect the adults' knowledge of child development (Morgan, 1995). Child development knowledge is very important in designing art activities for promoting children's creativity. The design of curriculum will depend on teacher's training, teaching experience, observation skills, concept of their theories of creativity and child development and the ability to reflect (Ngan 2006). Schon (1987) suggested 'theories-in-use' 'reflection-on-action', which indicate the importance of the teacher's thinking. A qualitative methodology was applied in a study of a typical preschool in Hong Kong. A semi-structured interview was conducted. Video-tape recordings of the classroom teaching was used as a stimulated recall of the activities to find out the rationale, focus of the activities and the reflection of the teacher. The findings indicate that the teacher needs to develop her observation skills in order to be more sensitive to children's needs. Finally her knowledge of creativity and children development are very important.

As part of the module "Further Studies in Kindergarten Curriculum" in the Certificate in Kindergarten Teacher Education Course conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Education, teacher-educators made use of semantic webbing to help kindergarten teachers/principals develop reflective and thinking skills regarding subject matter content and teaching curriculum. Semantic webbing/mapping or semantic networking or plot maps may be defined as a strategy in which information is categorically structured in graphic/visual form. However, its use in teacher education is more recent. Kindergarten teachers/principals were interviewed to discern how they developed critical thinking and evaluative skills concerning subject matter content and teaching curriculum through the use of semantic webbing. Interviews of a random sample of participants and analysis of their mind-maps revealed a change in perspectives and attitudes towards subject matter content and teaching curriculum. The present paper examines some of the affective outcomes for both teacher educators and student-teachers resulting from the use of semantic webbing/mapping as a strategy for facilitating reflective and critical thinking skills in four components of the module "Further Studies in Kindergarten Curriculum"; namely, Art, Language, Mathematics/Science, as well as Social Studies. Implications for teacher education are drawn from the findings.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443022000022422 ]