This paper presents the design and implementation of a technological literacy course in professional development training for a diverse group of in-service primary teachers in Hong Kong. A set of micro-controlling hardware was chosen such that not only the controlling and coding barriers are acceptable to the teachers but that their pupils can also adopt the easy-to-use hardware and software to create STEM projects in primary schools. The hands-on training seeks to broaden their technological experiences in various interfacing and sensing activities. The coding challenge is reduced by introducing visual programming, thereby allowing the learners to focus on real- world problems in the STEM disciplines. Details of the course are provided and the assessment projects by Engineering Design Process are illustrated in this paper. The quantitative evaluation of teachers in their micro-controlling experience is provided. Copyright © 2018 by IEEE.

Hong Kong’s policy and curriculum guide advocates the development of creativity, and stresses the importance of child-centred and play-based practices in preschools. Effective pedagogical approaches for creativity reform should reflect a sociocultural perspective. This study aimed to compare the pedagogical effects of two teaching approaches, in a teacher-led, problem-solving activity. A case study research method was employed in a preschool setting. The Analysing Children’s Creative Thinking framework was used to document the creative thinking behaviours of two groups of six-year-old children in terms of exploration, involvement and enjoyment, and persistence. The results revealed that children in the teacher-guided approach exhibited more creative thinking behaviours than children in the hands-off approach. It was evident that Chinese children benefit when the level of choice is not overwhelming and learning occurs in a progressive way. The findings suggest that cultural and contextual appropriateness should be taken into consideration when promoting creativity in education. Copyright © 2018 Pedagogy, Culture & Society.

This study studied the accent perception of a group of non-native pre-service EFL teachers in Hong Kong in order to see whether native English norm is of their preference for teaching and learning. Results found that participants all preferred traditional native English as learning model and seemed to have overlooked the principle of intelligibility, even there had been calls for using lingua franca core as learning model. Results show that participants all preferred using native English to be the model of teaching and learning. Among all the native English varieties, participants preferred the accent from the United Kingdom though not all could identify the accent they preferred. The study showed there was a mismatch between what the participants preferred and their ability of identifying accents of different kinds. Copyright © 2018 Academy Publication.

This paper aims at identifying the use, benefits and challenges of integrating Minecraft in teaching students with autism. Classroom observations, students-created manifests and interviews were conducted in two Chinese-speaking special schools in Hong Kong. It is concluded that Minecraft does have positive impact on how children with ASD learn. Students were more engaged in class, showed improved collaboration and communications skills, developed deeper relationship with their classmates and the teachers, and were more motivated to learn. Some potential challenges and concerns are discussed. Copyright © 2018 The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Understandings of social media and its pedagogical potentials remain controversial. Teachers tend to integrate social media in their teaching, which may bring about considerable impacts on their pedagogies in practices. In fact, this is an imperative issue which teacher educators in Hong Kong and those in other places are concerned. This paper reports a multi-case study about preservice teachers’ pedagogies when using social media in teaching. A classification of the social media landscape is called for due to confusion regarding the meanings of such terms as social media, Web 2.0 and user-created content. Two research questions were addressed: (1) What social media did the preservice teachers prefer to use in during their practicums; and (2) what pedagogies did the teachers adopted while involving social media in teaching in the placement schools? A total of 33 preservice teachers (N = 33) from a higher education institution in Hong Kong voluntarily participated in this study after open invitation. YouTube was the most popular standalone social medium and was also used in combination with other social media and non-social media websites to reflect the teachers’ practices in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. Despite this, the preservice teachers mostly adopted didactic pedagogy with high frequencies of social media use during teaching practicums. This study contributes the salient understandings of pre-service teachers’ pedagogical orientations in using social media. Implications for teacher education are discussed. Copyright © 2018 ADTEL. All Rights Reserved

本研究旨在探討以「交互教學法」的策略來說故事，提升香港幼兒的閱讀理解能力的可行性。本研究以隨機抽樣方法選取共32位五至六歲幼稚園高班的幼兒，採用準實驗研究方法，將幼兒分為實驗組及控制組，分前測、實驗教學及後測三個階段進行，再就所得資料做質性和量化的分析。結果顯示，經過「交互教學法」的閱讀策略說故事後，實驗組閱讀理解能力比控制組為佳。本研究根據實驗教學的結果，找出如何以圖畫故事書為教材並運用交互教學策略進行活動，來幫助香港幼稚園教師實踐交互教學以提升幼兒的閱讀能力，並有助於其他幼稚園吸取相關的成功經驗。This study used the reciprocal teaching approach to storytelling as a reading strategy method to determine whether it affects Hong Kong children's competence in reading comprehension. A total of 32 children (age 5-6 years) studying in upper class (K3) were selected through random sampling to undertake reading activities for 6 weeks. They were split into experimental and control groups for a quasiexperiment study. The children of the control group carried out the story activity with the traditional way of teaching storytelling while the experimental group used the Reciprocal Teaching Approach with interactive teaching strategies to tell story books. The study, which used qualitative and quantitative methods, was conducted in three stages: pretesting, experimental teaching, and posttesting. The results revealed that children's competence in reading comprehension in the posttesting stage was superior to that in the pretesting stage. Children found learning vocabulary that appeared more frequently to be easier when listening to stories. Because of the link between pictures and context, children's image came up in their thoughts was developed in a multifaceted manner, which enhanced and improved their reading comprehension competence. The results of the experimental teaching indicated that by using picture stories and by adopting the reciprocal teaching approach, young children's competence in reading comprehension can be enhanced. This paper provides insight that can be applied in other kindergartens. Copyright © 2017 國立清華大學.

In this study, the relationship between student affective performance and classroom physical environment, social climate, and management style were investigated in a sample of classes in Hong Kong primary schools. The results of Pearson and canonical correlation analyses indicated that among the measures of classroom environment, perceived quality of physical environment and class master’s expert power, personal power, and coercive power were the strongest predictors of affective performance. This finding supports the importance of class master’s management style in the classroom environment. Students’ attitudes toward school and teachers appeared to be most sensitive to variation in the classroom environment, and self-concept was the least sensitive among the seven student affective measures. Students’ self-efficacy of learning and intention to drop out were moderately sensitive to classroom environment. Profiles of effective and ineffective classroom environments were also mapped. In effective classrooms, class masters care for students, pay attention to teaching, do not use force or punishment but do create a good classroom climate with their professional knowledge, personal morality, and personality. Physical environment and psychological environment are both important; a good classroom environment is highly correlated with student affective performance.