One of the main features of globalization is the increasing mobility of population. As an immigrant society, Hong Kong has witnessed waves of Mainland Chinese arrivals and assimilation into her mainstream, particularly around the change of sovereignty period. school-aged children constitute a substantial fraction of the new population. Given their potential impact on Hong Kong's present and future, how these immigrant youngsters perform in school has always been a concern to the public as well as the government. This study compared Hong Kong 8th-graders' mathematics performance in the four rounds of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study by their immigrant status. The results showed that the first-generation immigrant students' performance had obvious retrogression compared to native students in the past years. Among the natives, non-local-born students with only their father born in Hong Kong had the most similar performance as the first-generation immigrants. The causes for the differences are explored from both internal and external perspectives.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2011.621673]

The teaching practicum is a pivotal event for pre-service teachers to experience the transition from being students to being teachers. This paper examines the emergence of 'unruly pupils' as a central concern for pre-service English language teachers in their teaching practicum. The inquiry relates the pre-service teachers' perceived challenge of 'unruly pupils' to the mediation of contextual conditions and processes as well as the marginal positions in which they found themselves during the teaching practicum. The article also reports on the efforts that they undertook to address this perceived challenge. The findings suggest that pre-service teachers are encouraged to interrogate the contextual conditions and processes underlying the perceived challenge of 'unruly pupils' in their transition to being teachers, rather than treat it merely as a relationship challenge.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2012.656440]

Despite extensive discussion on critical thinking (CT) by Chinese students, there are still debates over the question of why Chinese higher education students, when studying abroad, lack (or rather do not demonstrate) CT skills. The main objective of this paper is to explore how far it can be established from the published research literature whether the key factor affecting Chinese university students' CT with respect to academic study in English is cultural background or previous training. The conclusion is that culture cannot be the sole explanation for Chinese students' CT performance at universities abroad. The evidence strongly suggests that, while CT elements can indeed be found in ancient Chinese culture, many other factors, especially students' previous learning experiences, are of more immediate relevance and likely to affect performance. As a result, a holistic approach is suggested. The review also suggests that there is at times a lack of clear definitions and/or explanations of the scope of the key concept - culture - in the current literature.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2010.546400]

The present study examined longitudinal changes in Asian (i.e. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) school students' national identity before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Participants were 946 secondary students aged 12-17 years from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This study revealed that residence, especially the hosting city, acted as the most significant factor in longitudinal changes and contribution to the national identity among the three regions. The time factor (before, during and after the Games) was only significant when it interacted with residence. These findings suggest that residence (hosting city) provided the greatest contribution in national identity before, during and after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2012.692248]

Purpose: This study explored the extent to which trait aggression is associated with suicidal behavior in a nationwide school-based sample of adolescents.
Methods: A nationwide sample of 14,537 high school students in urban areas of China was recruited. Information concerning suicide ideation, plans, attempts, trait aggression and other risk factors was collected by a self-reported questionnaire. Multivariate regression analyses were employed to predict suicidal behavior.
Results: Approximately 18.5% of students reported suicide ideation, 8.7% reported suicide plans, and 4.1% reported attempts during the past one year. Hostility and trait anger had a significant positive association with suicidal ideation. Hostility and physical aggression were positively related to suicide plans. Hostility had a positive correlation with suicide attempts, while trait anger was inversely associated with suicide attempts.
Conclusions: This study suggests that hostility, physical aggression and trait anger may be able to be used to predict suicidal behavior among adolescents. Suicide prevention programs should target at attenuating the severity of hostility, anger and physical aggression. But teachers and parents should also give close attention to students with low trait anger.
[Copyright of Public Library of Science. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031044]

The science-technology-society agenda has evolved over time to meet emerging educational aims in the light of changes in society and the environment. There is increasing emphasis on students' decision-making on socio-scientific issues (SSIs) not only to highlight the intricate relationships between science, technology, society, and the environment, but also to allow students to incorporate multiple viewpoints into the development of critical reasoning and responsible citizenship. Most research emphases have been on the rationality of reasoning rather than on the internal psychological context that underpins reasoning. This paper explores how these various aspects of reasoning interact in decision-making on SSIs in health contexts through case studies of recent issues in this field. The case studies reveal the negotiation of multiple influences in addressing SSIs in health contexts and the potential interactions between the psychological processes of individuals, science, and sociocultural perspectives. A tentative model to address these interactions emerges from this explorative study and has implications for the use of health-related issues in promoting SSI education.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2011.613417]