The “Active-Classroom” project aims to establish a platform for professional exchange among teachers on skills and strategies that helps to achieve an active classroom, by the use of WebQuest. In the “Active-Classroom”, different learning strategies are arranged as an advanced organizer for learners to navigate. The model of learning provided by the Active Classroom is known as WebQuest. WebQuest aims to involve learners in a meaningful task that results in knowledge acquisition and higher order thinking (Dodge, 1997). It has a well-defined structure that is similar to a lesson plan (Stein, 1998). The WebQuests in the Active-Classroom website provide links to essential electronic resources to motivate learners’ investigation on specific teaching strategies. Another outstanding feature is that all the materials in the Active-Classroom are result of collaborative effort of teacher educators and school teachers, through experimentation of various skills at different period. In this paper, the researchers will report how the Active Classroom has come into shape with its first attempt on questioning skill, during Dec 2004 to May 2005. There are three primary schools participating in studying this skill component. The project demonstrates the functions of the questioning skill WebQuest: (a) focuses learners on a tangible and easy navigated resource; (b) opens up possibility of getting feedback from distant audience via an embedded e-mail form. The Active Classroom has just been launched at this stage and positive influence on teacher professional networking and student learning is perceived. It implicates that online learning on instructional strategies should be promoted as it is a substantial support to education reform.

In the current curriculum reform of Hong Kong, the Curriculum Development Council (2002) recommends that teachers make use of co-operative learning to cater for their students' individual differences. A common feature of co-operative learning is that students help each other to learn in small groups towards a common goal (Cohen, 1994; Johnson & Johnson, 1999). For such kind of co-operative learning, the success of members of a group is interdependent to one another (Kagan, 1994; Slavin, 1995). The concept of co-operative learning is radically different from competitive learning in which a student's success builds on the failure of others. This paper aims to investigate the factors influencing teachers when they consider using co-operative learning in their classrooms. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of teachers (n = 179) from five primary schools conveniently chosen. Descriptive statistical analysis as well as factor analysis was performed on the data collected. The results suggested that the respondents agreed, to different extent, to all the twenty items of constraints as listed in the questionnaire. Four categories of factors that influenced teachers' decision to use co-operative learning were extracted. They represented the school and system levels, teachers' conceptions of teaching, pupils' ability and discipline, and classroom level. The study concluded that, in view of the various constraints, it would be difficult for teachers to implement co-operative learning to meet the curriculum re-structuring. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made.

After the handover, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government implemented drastic and enormous curriculum reforms, including project learning as one of the four key tasks. Over 80% of Hong Kong primary and secondary schools have adopted project learning as a curriculum task, which signifies the importance of teacher’s role and attitude in curriculum implementation. Yet the pressures on teachers and schools to achieve this result should not be underestimated. In this paper, the concept of “soft” and “hard” policy will be introduced as a means of analyzing the issues facing teachers in implementing the education reforms. “Soft” policy is characterized by persuasion, benchmarking and best practice exemplars. “Hard” policy on the other hand is explicitly embedded in legislation and budgetary allocations. This article will analyse the characteristics of project learning as a “soft” curriculum policy. It possesses features such as being practical, adaptable to context, emphasizing teaching processes, capable of being led from the classroom and is characterized by flexibility. Great emphasis is placed on conferences, seminars, sharing exemplars to promote and encourage teachers to work on this reform. On the other hand, however, the government uses “hard” means to monitor school compliance with the reforms. Thus, school self evaluation and external school evaluation are used to assess the extent to which schools are implementing curriculum innovations such as project learning. There are thus twin pressures on teachers and schools caused by the use of both “hard” and “soft” policy instruments.