This paper is based on research conducted at the Technical Teachers Training College, Dhaka, Bangladesh and at the Hong Kong Institute of Education with students in pre. service and in-service teacher education programmes. The students ranged in age from their early twenties to early fifties and for the majority learning in a second language was problematic at best and disastrous for some. The objective was to positively motivate students as they were introduced to membership of 'Quality Learning Teams' during their study of education and engineering modules.
The 'Team' philosophy involved taking the students from the traditional lecture style used extensively in both countries to active participative classes where quality learning is largely in the hands of the students themselves. For many the 'Team' philosophy helped students gain a much-enhanced appreciation of the topics under discussion. As in the jigsaw' approach to classroom teaching each member of the team learnt a specific point or skill they then assisted in the learning of their team members so that all gradually became familiar with the topics / skills given to that team. The jigsaw approach was also encouraged when each team was required to present their topic to the rest of the class. At the completion of the modules under study the students were surveyed and interviewed to provide data of the impact on their learning of the 'team' innovation introduced by their lecturers. Traditional methods in both Bangladesh and Hong Kong settings seldom involve teaming or quality cooperative learning.
The approach was particularly helpful for those whose elective was science, mathematics, design & technology, home economics, computer literacy and a number of engineering disciplines.

Relay Thinking (RT) is a thinking process borrows the concepts found in running a relay race. These concepts are then modify so that the co-operative advantages found in a "relay" are put in group thinking projects. In 1997, eight secondary Design and Technology (D&T) students used RT to generate ideas in order to solve a pre-set problem. The objective of this study was to see the possibilities and limitations of using the process in D&T problem solving activities. The performance of the students were noted during the thinking activities and interviews were conducted after the activities. The interviews did not aim at investigating the students' solutions to the problem, but rather their experience in using RT.
In this paper the concept of RT will first be described. The results of the study of the secondary students using the process will then be presented. From the results of the study, RT provides an alternative to individual and group thinking experiences, although some modifications on the thinking activities are necessary. The results also indicate that secondary students should be provided with more opportunities to have group co-operation in problem solving activities.

Millions of people now have access to the Internet, and the number is increasing every day. The World Wide Web (WWJI9 is the most visible, graphical and fast-growing part of the Internet. The role of education in this domain has been studied in recent years.
Some have tried to improve the instruction process through appropriate integration of technology via the WWW Does the access to the WWW which can be regarded as an Information Superhighway, deliver the anticipated renewal of teaching and learning? If so, under what conditions? Or to what degree? In this paper, we will focus our attention on the teaching and learning in mathematics and provide a preliminary exploration of the above questions.
A self-learning package in elementary number theory with the WWW has been developed for the pre-service teachers in our Full-time Certificate of Education (Primary) Course at HKIEd. In this paper, we will also explain our rationale in choosing the topics and the difficulties in our design and implementation.

Assessment is now identified as a powerful tool which can he used to influence the educational process positively. Underlying this view is a revolutionary shift in thinking of what assessment is about - from a 'testing' paradigm to a 'educational assessment' paradigm. The HKAL Biology Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) introduced in 1993 embodies such a shift in thinking. This paper draws on evidence from a naturalistic study of teachers' classroom practices in the TAS to illustrate that assessment innovation is certainly a necessary, but not a sufficient mechanism for changes within our educational system. It should be undertaken with full regard to problems of teacher interpretation and mediation at the classroom level. Otherwise, this will ruin the best intentions behind the assessment innovation.

This paper argues for the use of stories in science classrooms in the teaching of science, in particular the history of science. It concludes that story can play a very important role in crossing the conventional subject boundaries.