Next generation of language learners need learner-centredness in higher education ELT courses. A Holistic Flipped Classroom model (HFC) has been proposed in this research for such ELT course design. The effectiveness of three key components of the model - an authentic or near-authentic language learning community, flipped teaching, project-based assessment – are examined in an interactive storytelling short course for Early Childhood Education pre-service teachers at a teacher’s university in Hong Kong. A mixed research method of pre- and post-course surveys and interviews was used to measure students’ preference for such a model and their perceived effectiveness of the model on their learning outcomes. Data collected from students' survey and interviews showed students' higher motivation in learning and overall improvement of confidence and story creation as well as moderate enhancement in learner autonomy. This paper shares the design of this holistic flipped classroom model and further recommendations on teacher training and language learning enhancement technology are made. Copyright © 2019 Author.

Achievement emotions have been identified as important psychologic constructs that are closely linked with self-regulated learning and academic achievement (Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002; Pekrun, Goetz, Frenzel, Barchfeld, & Perry, 2011). Very recently, a team of researchers (Pekrun, Lichtenfeld, Marsh, Murayama, & Goetz, 2017) have identified the reciprocal relationships between achievement emotions and academic performance through longitudinal design. Despite these desirable outcomes associated with positive achievement emotions, experimental studies aiming to enhance students’ positive emotions are rare. This study extends achievement emotions research by using an experimental design. An intervention approach termed Team-based Learning (TBL, Michaelsen & Sweet, 2011) was implemented in a general breath course in a Hong Kong university. Experimental and control classes were used. Two negative emotions (anxiety and boredom) were included in order to better understand the effect of TBL as an intervention approach to promote positive and reduce negative emotions in learning. The Chinese version of learning-related Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (L-AEQ, Yang, 2017) was used to test students’ positive and negative emotions (enjoyment, hope, anxiety, boredom). The results showed in the TBL class, students’ enjoyment and hope significantly enhanced, meanwhile students’ boredom and anxiety declined. Comparatively, there were no significant changes in terms of positive and negative emotions in the control class. Implications of TBL as one of productive educational interventions to promote students’ enjoyment and hope in learning are discussed in relation to the control-value theory of achievement emotions. Copyright © 2018 ERAS-APERA International Conference.

This study was designed to explore how secondary students perceive the use of flipped classroom for learning computer programming. Specifically, it aimed to investigate the effects of flipped classroom on students’ learning and acquisition of programming knowledge and skills. Flipped classroom is known as a blended learning approach in which learning materials are delivered online, out of class for self-study in advance of classes, while homework assignments are transformed into class activities. This approach leverages technology and digital resources to support students in independent and online learning. It also enables teachers to minimize direct instruction and maximize student involvement in both teacher-student and student-student interactions. In this study, forty students from two Information and Communications Technology (ICT) classes (18 students in Secondary 4 and 22 in Secondary 5) in a Hong Kong secondary school were involved. Flipped classroom was adopted to teach students about computer programming topics (conditional, repetition and array) in both classes. Data were collected from a questionnaire and two interview sessions to explore students’ views on using flipped classroom to learn computer programming. The findings of this study indicate that students in the flipped classroom, regardless of their performance level, experienced stronger grasp of programming knowledge and higher engagement in learning programming concepts. Our findings also highlight limitations with this study that could be addressed in future work. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

The purpose of this study was to examine creative thinking and learning in arts-infused education by using the invention kit Makey Makey as a platform for Human-Centred Design Instrument (HCDI). Data were collected from 249 adolescents (n = 249) from a Hong Kong secondary school in a participatory design format. They were selected for the STEAM project, which is provided through the school curriculum to examine the level of attitude change towards creativity through the creation of human-centred musical instruments for different age cohorts, including children (aged 3–6), adults and elderly people (aged over 65). The research objectives were concerned with the development of collaborative creative thinking through an HCDI and with how students combined and transformed new knowledge for everyday application with meaning – a breakthrough in musical instrument design for human needs. Questionnaires, observation and interviews were conducted to examine the students’ level of creative thinking. Based on a modification of the creativity measurement framework from the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS), a significant increase in the attitude change of students’ creativity was shown from the paired-sample t-test in the dimensions of originality, flexibility, fluency and elaboration through the STEAM project. Copyright © 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Creativity literature was criticized for its bias towards conventional areas (e.g. arts), and creativity studies in domains less concerned about creativity, such as environmental sustainability (ES), are rare. This study aimed to understand the development of "creativity for ES" (pro-ES creativity) of common tertiary students. Based on a pro-environmental behaviour model and a pro-sustainability competence model found in literature, a pro-ES creative learning curriculum was designed and integrated into an existing toy course in a university of Hong Kong. A total of 20 students from three cohorts were interviewed, and their feedback was analysed inductively with open-coding by the consensus of two experts. Together with their affecting factors, five learning outcomes emerged as attributes of pro-ES creativity: sensitivity and problem-finding; creative problem-solving abilities; affinity for self-creating life-style; creative systems thinking and futures thinking; and reconceptualization of creativity and ES. This study discovered that creativity, as a kind of self-actualization, had developed both individual competences and intrinsic motivation, which are conducive to life-long self-determining ES behaviours. This study informs the education field that the five attributes of pro-ES creativity can be enhanced in a curriculum based on a simple everyday theme. As such, pro-ES creativity education can be integrated into many existing curricula. Going beyond ES, this study shed light on creativity studies of other less popular areas. It suggested a dual domain-specific-general creativity education approach and a dual deductive-inductive research approach for developing creativity theories and curriculum of "low-creativity" domains. Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

本研究嘗試探討嚴重智障兼多重弱能兒童是否具備高階思維的共通能力︰創造力、批判性思考能力、解決問題能力。透過文獻探究擬定評估準則，並利用互動故事作為教學策略，進行施教、觀察和評估，以得出結果。研究結果顯示，嚴重智障兼多重弱能兒童一樣具備不同程度的高階思維能力。只要因應學生的學習特性和需要，給予適當的引導和啟發，一樣可以提升這些方面的能力。當然，他們必須經過不斷的練習，及教師採取多元化的課程設計、教學策略和活動來引導學生，才能提升和鞏固其高階思維的能力。 The study examined whether students with severe mental handicap and multiple disabilities had higher order thinking skills: creativity, critical thinking skills and problem solving skills. The students were taught using the strategy of interactive story and the assessment criteria of the three higher order thinking skills were develop through reviewing related studies in the literature, Students' performance in the three higher order thinking skills were observed and rated based on the developed assessement criteria. The results indicated that students with severe mental handicap and multiple disabilities exhibit different degree of higher order thinking skills during the lessons. In teachers could provide appropriate guidance and stimulation based on the characteristics and needs of these students, higher order thinking skills could be developed though repeated practice would be necessary to reinforce the skills.
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A quasi-experimental research study is reported in this paper. Its aim was to evaluate the effects of different types of pedagogy on the cultivation of students' critical thinking dispositions. One hundred and forty Secondary 4 students (i.e. tenth-grade students at 15–17 years of age) from two Hong Kong schools joined a teaching intervention in which they learnt strategies of argumentation through an established critical thinking framework (i.e. Kuhn's model The Skills of Argument, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991]). Analysis revealed collaborative group work to exert positive impacts on students' development of critical thinking when used in conjunction with explicit instruction in reasoning and evidence-based justifications during the intervention. The research results also showed the students who received teacher guidance to have engaged more interactively in joint learning tasks, thereby illustrating the important role of the teacher in facilitating group discussions.
[Copyright of Thinking Skills and Creativity is the property of Pergamon Press.]

Objective: Developing student's critical thinking capacity has long become one of the fundamental aims in Hong Kong secondary school education sector. The aim of the proposed research was to investigate the influence of teachers' teaching strategies on the learning of students' critical thinking (CT). Method: A mixed-method research design was employed. Under the guidance and training from the research team, classroom interventions were undertaken in two rounds. Well established student survey was collected. Lesson observation tools were developed and used, measuring the teaching strategies adopted in class, and the changes of outcome variables such as classroom discourses and student higher-order thinking. Nearly 200 students from eight Liberal study (LS) classrooms, four secondary schools in Hong Kong, participated in the research. Paired samples T-test was adopted for the quantitative part of analysis, meanwhile coding schemes were developed for the analysis of lessons observed. Results: Descriptive results showed a consistent improvement on student's critical thinking across dimensions, regarding both their CT propensity and skills. Significant results were found in sub-dimension levels. Further, findings reflect improved student engagement in classroom both from behavioral and cognitive perspectives. There was also significant increase in student higher order-thinking behaviors. Conclusion: This piece of research confirmed the important role played by the teachers as facilitators in improving students' critical thinking in the process of learning and teaching in classroom. The paper concludes with recommendations for efficient teaching strategies in enhancing the student's CT and implications for linking pedagogical theories and classroom practice.

Hong Kong, a leading city of China, is a place with students having good examination results but being regarded as incapable of thinking critically. In 2005, the Education Bureau decided to make Liberal Studies as a core subject and aroused controversial debate. This change, proposing to use a core subject to nurture student critical thinking skills, is a drastic curriculum change in this society. This study, inquiring into the perceptions and practices of teachers teaching Liberal Studies, consists of two research questions. First, how do teachers perceive the aims and nature of the core subject Liberal Studies in the new curriculum? Second, how do they nurture the critical thinking habits of students in their classroom? Qualitative study was conducted to investigate teachers’ perception and practices of critical thinking in Liberal Studies. Both interview and documentary analysis are used in this study. First, the researcher interviewed five Liberal Studies teachers, who were experienced in teaching Liberal Studies. Each teacher individually attended the interview for about one hour. The researcher audio-recorded the conversation and transcribed word by word. Second, in order to follow up with interviews, teachers were invited to provide supporting materials such as teaching plan for further analysis. The study showed that a positive side in this reform. Teachers with strong perceptions for nurturing critical thinking skills of pupils were empathetic in teaching Liberal Studies. Teachers had initiated various methods to provide students opportunities to reflect on thinking and learning, which were drastically differed from traditional culture of Hong Kong. This study also showed that teachers’ perception of critical thinking skills in Liberal Studies also influences their practices in teaching the discipline. However, with the traditional pedagogical culture and examination bounded system, shifting from transmission of knowledge to nurturing critical thinking