Guided by a sociocultural perspective, this study aims to explore the views of kindergarten teachers on ChatGPT, its potential benefits and challenges in education, and the support and training required for effective implementation. The study involved 10 teachers from several kindergartens in Hong Kong. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. The findings revealed that teachers had mixed opinions about ChatGPT, with some considering it a powerful tool while others seeing it as mediocre. Potential benefits of using ChatGPT in education were identified in the areas of lesson planning, pedagogical and content knowledge, and twenty-first-century skills. However, teachers also highlighted concerns regarding hardware issues, lack of resources, and accuracy. To facilitate the effective use of ChatGPT in teaching practices, teachers identified the need for policy and school support, as well as teacher training. It is crucial for policymakers and school administrators to recognize the potential of ChatGPT in enhancing teaching and learning and to provide resources and develop supportive policies accordingly. Moreover, providing teachers with adequate training on how to utilize ChatGPT effectively can boost their confidence and competence in incorporating this technology into their classrooms. Copyright ©2023 Routledge.

A lack of evidence bridging the chasm between professional learning practices and commonly used, publicly available resources such as YouTube videos, remains a long-term challenge in both research and practice. The study introduced a YouTube video club for female early childhood teachers in Hong Kong (N = 29) to view, analyse and discuss STEM teaching videos. The participants wrote reflections and discussed with peers to exchange views on teaching content and strategies. All participants completed pre- and post-intervention surveys reporting their teaching beliefs, and five participants from the experimental group were invited for individual interviews. The questionnaire survey data were analysed using statistical analysis, while the interview data were analysed through inductive thematic analysis. The study, which was pre-post quasi-experimental, showed that the video club enhanced teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards professional practices in early childhood education. Qualitative analysis of teacher interviews revealed benefits and constraints of using YouTube videos for professional learning. The study transformed video clubs into a web-mediated mode using YouTube, Google Classroom and Zoom. The results have implications for the design and implementation of video clubs in teacher learning programmes. Copyright ©2023 Wiley.

Background: The number of artificial intelligence (AI) literacy studies in K-12 education has recently increased, with most research focusing on primary and secondary education contexts. Little research focuses on AI literacy programs in early childhood education. Objectives: The aim of this mixed-methods study is to examine the feasibility of an AI literacy program called AI4KG and explore how it might affect kindergarteners' perceptions of robots and attitudes towards engineering and science. Methods: A total of 26 child-parent dyads recruited from a Hong Kong kindergarten were involved in this study, consisting of 26 children (Mage = 4 years, SD = 0.28) and their parents. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through surveys and interviews designed to explore children's perceptions of robots and attitudes towards engineering and science, and parents' perceptions of the AI4KG intervention. Results: It is found that children have increased their perceptions of robots after the AI literacy program, but the AI4KG curriculum had no significant effects on kindergarten children's engineering and science attitudes. Most parents (22 out of 26) agreed that their children's AI knowledge, AI skills, and AI attitudes have been enhanced after learning through the AI4KG curriculum. Conclusions: This study suggests that the AI4KG curriculum is potentially effective in promoting early AI literacy and favourable attitudes towards the technology, but further research is needed to develop age-appropriate measures and assess its long-term impact on children's education and career paths. Copyright ©2024 Wiley.

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is a crucial part of digital literacy that all individuals should possess in today's technologically advanced world. Despite the potential benefits that AI education offers, little research has been done on how to teach AI literacy to children. Objectives: This study aimed to fill that gap by investigating how children were engaged in AI literacy activities that are supported by intelligent agents. These activities were implemented in a Hong Kong kindergarten with a class of six 5-year-olds (Mage = 62.83 months, SD = 2.91) over a 6-week period. Methods: The study gathered data from multiple sources, including classroom observations, teacher interviews, and documents/artefacts. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that children could learn about AI through interaction with intelligent agents in embodied learning contexts. The findings of this study have implications for the broader field of digital technology education, particularly in the context of early childhood education. Copyright © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy is gaining popularity in the field of education. Most research on AI literacy has focused on primary, secondary, and higher education, and there has been limited examination of AI literacy programs in early childhood education. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an eight-week AI literacy program on young children’s AI literacy, AI-related creativity, and their perceptions of the AI4KG program. A total of 26 young children (average age of 4 years) enrolled in the program at a kindergarten in Hong Kong were the subjects of the study. The results indicated that (1) young children were capable of learning basic AI concepts and knowledge; (2) in terms of AI-related creativity, younger children were able to design a chatting robot via imagination, while older children created an AI robot to assist people in their drawings; (3) in regards to the children's perceptions of the AI4KG program, older children who enjoyed the activity were able to train AI, while younger children preferred to draw the future AI city and participate in the AI story activity. This study highlights the positive benefits of AI literacy education in preparing young children for an AI-driven future. Copyright © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The proliferation of screen-free programmable robotics allows teachers to implement age-appropriate integrated activities that can promote child learning and development. However, very scarce is known about the challenges of using programmable robots as a tool to empower children in minority communities. This mixed-methods case study examined a Free Quality Kindergarten situated in a low-income public housing estate in Hong Kong to explore the affordances and challenges of robot programming (RP) in early childhood education (ECE). Both quantitative and qualitative data were generated through videotaped observations, child assessments and teacher interviews to journey with the teaching team as they managed to implement the newly introduced RP curriculum. Child assessment evidence revealed that there was a statistically significant improvement in CT scores over 6 weeks of RP activities, while the pretest–posttest change of child self-regulation scores was nonsignificant. Video analysis results further revealed that children's interaction level with the robot kit significantly predicted the change of self-regulation over time. Qualitative results are presented to explicate the micro, meso and macro conditions that constrain the implementation of RP curriculum, including the following: (a) teachers' limited TPACK in RP education, (b) a disconnect between the RP curriculum and the school-based curriculum, (c) limited resources and (d) the Confucian tradition and cultural barriers. These illustrate the intricacies involved in the implementation of RP education to empower marginalized children in under-resourced ECE settings. This study will help bring systemic change to the ECE field by uncovering ecological difficulties in integrating new technologies to promote inclusiveness and sustainability for the future. Copyright © 2022 British Educational Research Association.

This special issue on early STEM education collects ten articles that present a series of studies covering topics about curriculum and pedagogy, teacher education and professional development, family environment, and inclusive education for enhancing young children’s STEM learning experiences. These collected studies have presented empirical evidence obtained from diverse cultural contexts, including Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, and the United States. With varying designs and diversified approaches, these studies jointly present a vivid picture of the STEM world and may therefore provide some contributions to theoretical developments and practical improvements. Copyright © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This study employed an inductive qualitative approach to understanding the effects of local culture on early childhood curriculum development in two Hong Kong kindergartens. A triangulation of interviews, observations and documents was established, and cultural-historical activity theory was employed as the theoretical framework. The results indicated that local culture played an important role in early childhood curriculum development. First, the two cases learned from diverse models and approaches during the transformation of their curricula, resulting in contradictory demands and motives. Then, these contradictions were, in turn, resolved by the local culture to achieve curriculum hybridisation and innovation, as well as inherit the culture. Such findings provide valuable implications for early childhood professionals to integrate social and cultural diversity into curriculum development and to localise imported curricular practices so as to ensure a good fit between the curriculum and the local context. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s).

Hong Kong has launched reforms to advocate child-centred pedagogies in kindergartens since 2000. This study examined the actual pedagogical interactions in eight kindergarten classrooms via videotaped observations. The teachers were surveyed before the observation and interviewed after receiving the observational report. Evidence revealed that the Hong Kong teachers used various scaffolding strategies to maintain a reciprocal interaction, and teacher-directed instruction dominated the pedagogical interactions. Most teachers had a positive attitude towards teacher–child interactions, yet traditional beliefs persisted. Teachers’ pedagogical interactions were associated with their age, years of teaching experience and educational level, but not with the age group they taught. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Since its return to China in 1997, Hong Kong has launched a series of large-scale reforms to establish a new post-colonial education system. Early childhood education (ECE), however, is totally privatised and independently regulated by the market mechanism. Reforming such a private market is thus a challenge to the educational authorities. In this chapter, we will examine the ECE policies that have been implemented (or proposed) from the year 1997 to 2015, through the ‘3A2S’ framework (Li, Wang, & Fong, Int J Chin Educ 3(2): 161–170, 2014). Analyses of the most recent data obtained from the governmental agencies indicate that:(1) The ECE market has been well regulated by the supply and demand mechanism.(2) All the subsidy measures share the aim of assuring children’s equal access to affordable ECE.(3) Self-evaluation and school improvement mechanism has been well established to promote the accountability of ECE.(4) Sustainability of ECE has been highlighted by the policymakers.(5) Social justice has been upheld in the policymaking process.All these findings jointly imply that Hong Kong might be a good case of study for the policymakers in other countries, as it has really achieved a balance between the affordability, accessibility, accountability, sustainability and social justice of ECE. Copyright © 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.