Positioned in the Hong Kong education context, this article evaluates the effects of teaching science through home and second languages (i.e. Chinese and English) in Secondary 2 (or eighth grade) science classrooms. A total of 479 students, divided into two language instruction groups, participated in a teaching intervention comprising 16 lessons on the topic of ‘Making Use of Electricity’. Informed by the results of a mixed-methods study with a quasi-experimental design, with data collected from science diagnostic tests, inquiry questions and focus group interviews, this article reports that Chinese is the most advantageous language of instruction for low- and middle-ability science students, whereas English is more favourable for their high-achieving peers. Whilst Hong Kong students who learnt the focal topic in English were able to rid themselves of certain naive ideas generated from the translation of science terms into Chinese (e.g. pencil ‘鉛筆’ is translated as ‘lead pen’ in Chinese), they were also found to have misconceptions about certain scientific concepts. For example, they were confused about ‘open’ and ‘closed’ circuits because they mixed up the words ‘open’ (‘開放’) and ‘switch on’ (‘開啟’) in English. The study’s broad implications for language support and a mixed-code approach in science teaching worldwide are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education is the property of Springer Netherlands.]

Developing students’ interest in STEM careers in STEM education is important. This study explored the impacts of STEM instruction involving scientists or engineers on 224 Hong Kong students’ interests in STEM careers and their stereotypes about STEM professionals. The teachers who participated in professional development, namely “School-STEM professional collaboration”, implemented the STEM instruction with support from educational researchers and invited STEM experts. Throughout the STEM instruction, students were provided with STEM role models, and were engaged in authentic and hands-on activities to mimic the research work of invited STEM experts. Data were collected through pre- and post-surveys and were analysed using descriptive statistics, t tests, and ANOVAs. The results revealed increased interest in STEM careers, and more positive perceptions of STEM professionals among the students after the instruction. In addition, the impacts of the instruction were found to be influenced by gender-matching between students and STEM professionals. Girls were more likely to improve their interests and alter stereotypes with exposure to female role models. It can be concluded that the STEM instruction diversifying the stereotypes of STEM people can be beneficial to students. This study has implications for supporting more effective STEM education in primary schools. Copyright © 2020 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

Purpose - Although researchers have identified correlations between specific attitudes and particular behaviors in the pro-environmental domain, the general relationship between young people’s development of environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is not well understood. Past research indicates that geographic context can play a role, while social factors such as age and gender can have a more significant impact on predicting attitudes and behaviors than formal education. Few studies have systematically examined the relationships between education and environmental attitudes and behaviors among youth in Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study comparing secondary school students’ environmental attitudes and behaviors with age and related factors in two international schools and two government schools in Hong Kong. Students’ attitudes and behaviors were compared based on school type (curriculum), while the authors additionally compared the significance of social factors and attitudes on students’ behaviors.Design/methodology/approach - Attitudes were measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the NEP for Children (NEPC), the most commonly used, internationally standardized tools for investigating environmental attitudes and values of adults and young people for comparative purposes. The authors compared NEP/NEPC scores and student self-reported environmental behaviors using a short questionnaire.Findings - No significant differences were found in attitudes or behaviors based on school type. However the authors did observe a significant effect of gender and age on students’ attitudes, and a significant correlation of student attitudes in the NEP with students’ self-reports regarding air conditioning consumption.Originality/value - This study builds a foundation for cross-national studies and for evaluating the impact of curricula over time. Copyright © 2016 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This study assessed elementary school students’ conceptions of STEM professions and its potential influence on STEM career interest, as well as the moderation effect of gender on the relationships between conceptions of STEM professionals and career interest in STEM. A total of 216 grade 3 through 5 students in Hong Kong participated in this study. They were asked to draw images of professionals in specific STEM areas, and complete questionnaires about their conceptions of STEM professionals and interests in STEM careers. Drawings were analyzed using graphic content analysis, and survey data were analyzed using moderated hierarchical regression analysis. Analysis of drawings showed that the students had inadequate understanding of engineers or scientists in the air, food, and water area. Boys were more likely to hold gender-related stereotypes about STEM professionals than girls. Analysis of survey data revealed that students’ views about STEM career implications, STEM professionals’ personal aptitudes, and social relations significantly predicted their STEM career interest. Gender significantly moderated the association of Social relations and Interest, meaning that compared to boys, girls might express higher STEM career interest when they more strongly believed that STEM professionals are able to build good social relationships with others. This study has implications for the design and implementation of pertinent lessons on STEM for elementary schools. Copyright © 2020 Springer Nature B.V.

In recent years, research on students' scientific competencies has generated much discussion. According to the PISA 2015 Assessment and Analytical Framework, both scientific competencies and attitudes towards science - interest in science, valuing scientific approaches to enquiry (or epistemological beliefs about science), and environmental awareness - are integral aspects of scientific literacy. However, few studies have focused on the relationships between them. This article examines how students' scientific competencies are affected by their attitudes. Based on a theoretical analysis, the present study argues that the three attitudinal factors have a direct impact on scientific competencies, interest has an immediate influence on the other two attitudes, and epistemological beliefs are directly affected by environmental awareness. To test this hypothesis, a model was constructed to verify such relationships. PISA 2015 assessment instruments were used for data collection. The participants were 25,658 students from different parts of China, containing Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed for data analysis. The results confirmed our hypothesis. The way in which Chinese students' attitudes affected their scientific competencies did not differ (to a statistically significant level) by gender or district. The limitations and implications of this research are discussed below.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science Education is the property of Routledge.]

This study examines language features that students are likely to encounter in chemistry textbooks in EMI classrooms. In consultation with teachers, the presentation of science knowledge was examined in three chemistry textbooks commonly used in Hong Kong secondary English Medium Instruction (EMI) classrooms. Student textbooks were collected from eight Grade 10-12 chemistry classrooms. Adopting a functional linguistic approach (e.g., Veel's (1997) framework of text taxonomy), analyses showed that explanation is the most common text type in the three chemistry textbooks, and the five subtypes of explanations represented in the textbooks are causal (40%), factorial (24%), sequential (15%), consequential (13%) and theoretical (8%). The distribution of these different types of explanation texts and their features were examined to reveal the kind of language that students in EMI classrooms are likely to encounter when learning chemistry. The results show that explanation texts served as a primary linguistic reservoir for EMI students to learn the language of science. The analysis of the language features of these texts could be used to inform future pedagogies aiming at making these textbooks more accessible to students learning in English and facilitating both their science learning and control of scientific English.
[Copyright of Journal of English for Academic Purposes is the property of Elsevier Ltd.]

This paper reports on a multimodal teaching approach delivered to grade 5 elementary students in a bilingual school in Hong Kong, as part of a larger research study aimed at supporting English Language Learners (ELLs) in science class. As language demands of reading, writing and talking science place additional challenges on ELLs, there is much research interest in exploring the use of multiple modes of communication beyond the dominant use of verbal and written language. Research has shown that students develop a better scientific understanding of natural phenomena by using and alternating between a variety of representations. Yet, questions remain as to what meanings ELLs make during a multimodal discourse and, in turn, how such discourse provides support to ELLs in learning science. Drawing on social semiotics, which theorizes language as a meaning making resource comprising a range of modes (e.g. gestures and diagrams), we used a case-study approach to examine how a multimodal instructional approach provided 10 students with multiple avenues to make sense of science learning. Video recordings (capturing gestures, speech and model manipulation) and student works (drawing and writing) were collected during nine inquiry science lessons, which encompassed biology, physics and chemistry science units. Multimodal transcription allowed discourse to be analysed at a fine-grain level which, together with analysis of student works, indicated that the multimodal instructional approach provided the necessary inquiry opportunities and variety of language experiences for ELLs to build science understandings. Analysis also revealed how the affordances of modes attributed to the meaning making potentials for the ELLs and how they provided alternate communication avenues in which new meanings could be made. The findings from this study have implications for ELLs learning science within the growing multilingual Asia-Pacific region.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Science Education

The role of the first language (L1) in second language (L2) learning has been widely discussed and researched in the second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature. Benefits of L1 use have been found for vocabulary acquisition, and in facilitating comprehension thereby alleviating student anxiety. Many teachers appear to consider L1 use as a necessary option in L2 pedagogy. Disadvantages of L1 use are argued to be that it reduces exposure to the L2 thereby not enabling more implicit forms of L2 acquisition. Considerably less research has been carried out in English medium instruction (EMI) classrooms, surprisingly, as these are predicated on the benefits of massive exposure to the L2. This study investigated the effect of L1 and L2 use on teacher question types and interaction patterns in science lessons in early EMI and late EMI schools in Hong Kong. Our findings show that in late EMI, where there was much greater use of the L1, teachers tended to use higher order questions and were more interactive. In early EMI, despite students having received four more years of greater exposure to English instruction than late EMI students through the use of English as the vehicular language, teachers asked lower order questions and the interaction was more monologic. The implications for policy and pedagogy are discussed.
[Copyright of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism is the property of Routledge.]

2017年11月,教育部在正式發佈的最新普通高中課程方案和課程標準中指出:生物課程要以發展“學科素養”為核心,以“教學過程重實踐”為基本理念。生物學實驗作為培養學生生物科學素養的重要途徑,其實驗教學內容的選擇和設計也應隨之進行相應的改變。香港與大陸同宗同源,歷時近20年教育改革,無論是初等教育還是高等教育改革都取得世界矚目的成績,高中生物教材也有可圈可點之處,尤其是實驗內容的選擇與設計特點較為突出。因此,筆者對香港與大陸現行生物教材的實驗內容進行比較分析,為大陸生物教材實驗教學內容部分的編寫和高中生物實驗教學實踐提供啟示與借鑒。第一部分,利用文獻法、比較法等研究方法從課程理念、課程模式、課程重點、課程評價四個方面比較兩地課程標準(香港稱為:課程指引)關於實驗教學及實驗編寫的不同。第二部分,將香港雅集出版社出版的《概念與應用》教材與人民教育出版社出版的《分子與細胞》、《遺傳與進化》中相同的知識模塊包含的所有實驗分析整理並進行對比研究。從實驗內容、實驗數量、實驗類型、實驗材料、實驗安全、實驗插圖、實驗過程等七個方面進行詳細的對比剖析。第三部分,在以上對比研究的基礎上,結合大陸地區的特點,對大陸生物教材實驗部分的編寫及高中生物實驗教學實踐提出建議與對策。在教材編寫上,提出加強實驗安全教育;實驗選材人性化,關注道德倫理;增加插圖數量,提高插圖質量;簡化實驗過程,增加實驗的開放性;堅持評價指標的多元化,設計實驗報告冊;增加課外實踐活動;搭建教材互聯網平台,增加網絡生物試驗等七個建議。根據以上分析,對教材中“提取和分離葉綠體中的色素實驗”、“植物組織中的還原糖、脂肪、蛋白質的檢測實驗”兩個最為典型的實驗進行了優化設計。在實驗教學方面,提出靈活使用教材中的實驗方案;減少實驗課堂的講解時間,重視實驗教學安全等三個建議。希望本研究能對為高中生物教材編寫及生物教師的實驗教學提供必要的理論依據與啟示。

STSE教育是適應科技與社會飛速發展產生的科學教育新範式。STSE教育旨在科學教育中突出科學、技術、社會和環境之間的相互關係,使學生正確認識科學與技術的發展給社會和環境帶來影響,增強對科學本質的認識,最終形成科學素養。將STSE教育納入中學課程理念已成為世界課程改革的一大趨勢,我國新頒布的高中物理課程標準對STSE教育提出了明確要求。現行高中物理教科書中STSE教育內容滲透情況如何,如何在STSE教育理念的指導下進一步完善高中物理教科書,這是物理教育工作者面臨的新課題。論文採用文獻研究法、內容分析法、比較研究法,從STSE教育的角度對內地人教版高中物理教科書和香港高中物理教科書進行比較。論文在釐清STSE教育的內涵的基礎上細化STSE教育內容主題,確定了本研究的主要研究工具,根據分類指標對教科書中的STSE教育內容進行全面統計。首先論文對內地的物理課程標準和香港的課程評估指引中包含的STSE教育理念和內容進行分析和比較,在解讀課程標準中相關內容的基礎上,對內地和香港教科書中STSE教育內容的呈現方式、主題分佈、內容特色進行比較,分析得出結論。接著論文依據2017年新頒布的高中物理課程標準中STSE教育內容的要求,嘗試編寫了四個STSE內容主題案例。最後論文提出完善人教版高中物理教科書和教師進行STSE教育的建議。研究結果表明,內地和香港的課程標準的課程理念、課程目標、內容標準和教學建議中均滲透了STSE教育理念,並提出了具體STSE教育內容,充分重視STSE教育在物理課程中的滲透。兩版物理教科書中STSE教育內容的呈現方式多樣,從引言、正文、欄目和習題四種呈現方式比較分析發現:(1)人教版教科書引言內容更加豐富,香港版教科書引言更具功能性;(2)兩版教科書正文均呈現了技術應用、社會發展和熱點問題討論的STSE教育內容,並附有生動的圖片和文字說明;(3)兩版教科書呈現STSE教育內容的欄目類型多樣,但功能屬性不同;(4)兩版教科書STSE習題數量及考察方式有所差異。總體來看,兩版教科書在編寫時都注重滲透STSE教育內容,涵蓋了STSE教育的各個主題。在顯性STSE教育內容方面,人教版教科書STSE欄目數量偏少,內容多從科技發展與人類社會、環境保護的關係進行討論,打開學生思考問題的格局。香港版教科書STSE欄目數量佔優,內容善於以小見大,貼近學生生活,易讓學生引起共鳴。在隱性STSE教育內容方面,(1)兩版教科書涉及物理學史與科學本質內容數量大致相當,但人教版教科書沒有顯化的科學本質欄目;(2)物理學與技術主題,主要突出了技術的應用,闡釋科學與技術的關係,關注技術在生產生活和環境保護方面的應用,但此主題人教版教科書中有關技術設計的內容不多,還需增加;(3)物理學與社會生活主題兩版教科書均注重將物理學與技術應用、經濟活動、醫療健康等現實生活聯繫,但內容覆蓋面有所差異;(4)物理學與環境主題,兩版教書都選取了熱點問題讓學生進行思考和討論,不同點是各主題下引入的具體內容或側重點稍有不同,為凸顯環境教育的重要性數量可再增加。接著論文從物理學與科學本質、物理學與技術、物理學與社會生活、物理學與環境四個主題嘗試編寫了四個STSE教育案例:光本性的認識與科學本質、電磁爐的工作原理及其構造、植物身上的神奇浸潤現象——蓮花效應、核能的利用與核安全。結合研究結果,論文進一步提出了增加顯性的STSE欄目數量、增加顯化科學本質的主題欄目、注重STSE內容選擇的生活化、加大物理學與技術內容的比重、突出社會問題和環境教育的重要性、注重STSE課程資源的開發和利用的完善人教版高中物理教科書的參考性建議和教師進行STSE教育的建議。