Hong Kong has embarked on a raft of educational reforms and prominent amongst them is a call for school students to 'learn to learn' so they can be lifelong learners. Such a reform direction is common in many countries as the demands of knowledge economies become increasingly clear and politicized. However, the extent to which such a goal is achievable depends significantly on the nature of the school and classroom learning environments in which students and teachers participate. This paper argues that many of the conditions necessary for developing metacognition, an essential requirement for 'learning to learn' and lifelong learning, are still lacking in relation to the context of science education in Hong Kong. It suggests reform directions that, if implemented, would positively impact on school and classroom learning environments and increase the possibilty that 'learning to learn' and lifelong learning might rise above the rhetoric of reform in Hong Kong.

The purpose of this study was to establish the factorial construct validity and dimensionality of the Metacognitive Orientation Learning Environment Scale – Science (MOLES-S) which was designed to measure the metacognitive orientation of science classroom learning environments. The metacognitive orientation of a science classroom learning environment is the extent to which psychosocial conditions that are known to enhance students’ metacognition are evident within that classroom. The development of items comprising this scale was based on a theoretical understanding of metacognition, learning environments and the development of previous learning environments instruments. Four possible hypothesized structure models, each consistent with the literature, were reviewed and their merits were compared on the basis of empirical data drawn from two populations of 1026 and 1223 Hong Kong secondary school students using confirmatory factor analysis procedures. The scale was calibrated using the Rasch rating scale model using data from the 1223 student sample. The results suggest that there is strong evidence to support the factorial construct validity of the MOLES-S but that, on the basis of the Rasch analysis, there are still suggestions for further refinement and improvement of the MOLES-S.
[Copyright © 2004 Journal of Applied Measurement.]