Museums provide direct learning experiences. In museums visitors can encounter objects and exhibits from specific times and places, related to concepts and disciplinary subjects in the arts, history, science, and social sciences. A museum is an educational fair. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s recent primary school General Studies curriculum guide recommends learning through museums as an informal learning pathway for all students. This project is an up-to-date exploratory study of why and how Hong Kong primary school teachers and students visit museums educationally and how they perceive those visits and the accompanying learning experiences. A survey study from a sample of five local primary schools, 90 teachers and 415 senior form students, shows that although teachers and students may not visit museums very frequently for academic purposes, they do have a strong interest and motivation to visit more often, attracted by different elements. Students’ learning and interaction with technology, adults and peers, and the museum environment during a visit, as well as the attractiveness of museum content, tend to correlate with their motivations. This has a range of implications which we discuss. This study will be useful for museum experts, educators and the wider public to map meaningful museum education journeys for students. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

Hong Kong is moving towards a knowledge-based economy. In order to nurture and motivate a population to continuously achieve world-class success, Hong Kong‟s education system has been reformed extensively since 1997, with a balanced focus on academic and practical learning. Generic forms of learning outcomes are critical to allow students to demonstrate high flexibility and adaptability in response to ever-changing challenges in the future. By using two well-validated instruments which measure students‟ achievement of generic learning outcomes and their engagement in schools, the cultural literacy and student engagement scales, this study aims to assess the development of generic learning outcomes of Hong Kong senior secondary school students, the extent to which students are well-equipped with the skills to succeed in a knowledge-based economy. The results of a survey study of 1,715 students inferred that their performances were not up to standard and questioned in particular the success of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) school curriculum. A regression model further suggested that these generic learning outcomes could largely be explained by how schools plan and facilitate students‟ learning inside and outside the classroom. It is argued that the primary role of NSS schools should focus to provide students with meaningful and useful learning experiences so as to achieve the curriculum goal of fostering their generic learning. This paper will contribute to the discussion of how to better support the NSS curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

The education reform in Hong Kong advocated the Project Approach as an effective pedagogy to support childrens' learning through exploration and play. This paper outlines a case study of a Hong Kong kindergarten which implemented the project approach using a picture book and digital picture book as a stimulus to begin the project topic and develop the inquiry process. The qualitative data sources included analysis of documentation such as teacher lesson plans, teacher questionnaire on reflection, documentation of children's works and activity photos of the project. The findings revealed that picture book was a good stimulus to arouse children's interest. The children were observed to be highly engaged in the investigation and the benefits from the picture book in project were not limited to literacy learning but also integrated learnings such as in the domains of music and movement, drama, and science. Additionally, the project provided opportunities to use the 21st skills of collaborating, communicating, creativity and critical thinking. The case also acts as an example of implementing the project approach in a non-Western context and recommendations are made for Hong Kong early child educators who participate the education reform. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

The aim of this paper is to examine blended learning as an integral component of a learning culture. By drawing on two concepts- habitus and field - we consider the cultural learning experiences of postgraduate students within the context of a Hong Kong University. It is an examination that allows for an appreciation of both an individual as well as a collective experience of blended learning and in so doing it demonstrates how power is (always) an issue within learning cultures. The paper goes on to argue that if blended learning is to achieve its goal in terms of enhancing learning there is a need to have a better understanding of learning itself where questions are asked concerning the learner, the locations where learning occurs and processes of learning. Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

This study examines the quality of Hong Kong centre-based childcare services with the aim of identifying areas for further improvement. With the use of the Chinese version of the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R), the quality of the classrooms in nine non-profit centres located in different districts of Hong Kong was systematically assessed. The findings revealed the global quality of the childcare centres in Hong Kong and indicated the relative strengths and weaknesses of the specific areas of childcare services compared with findings from the international community. The results showed that the quality of centre-based care servicesfor infants and toddlers in Hong Kong was minimal. Compared to other countries, the health and safety practice in Hong Kong scored higher. However, the scores were especially low in space and furnishings, listening and talking, activities and programme structure. These results revealed that Hong Kong faced challenges with the quality of its centre-based care servicesin general. It was also surprising to find a negative correlation between the quality of the childcare centres and the teachers’ experience. The findings also indicated the importance of early childhood education training and continuous professional development. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

Limited research has examined STEM education in early childhood, or addressed how STEM is integrated into the curriculum in the kindergarten level. Teachers‟ conceptions of STEM appear to differ from the pedagogical theory. They may be aware of the basic subject concepts, but they lack the effective teaching approaches required to integrate the subject concepts into playful learning processes. Thus, it is important to investigate how teachers can design STEM activities that involve digital toys, in addition to the subject concepts, pedagogical approaches, and factors that affect teachers‟ pedagogical designs. The aims of this study were to 1) investigate the different types of STEM activities in a kindergarten in Hong Kong; 2) understand the perspectives of school management teams and teachers on implementing STEM activities, and 3) provide recommendations for STEM activities appropriate to kindergartens. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.

This study was to examine the impacts of staff-child ratio on the quality of care and education for toddler-age children through controlling the variables of demographic features and structural characteristics of the compared classrooms. Two toddler classrooms in Hong Kong adopting different staff-child ratios were selected for the comprehensive quality assessments by using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale - Revised (ITERS-R) approach. The findings indicated a negative association between the staff-child ratio and the global quality of centre-based care and education for toddlers. The quality related to the "Interaction" and "Personal Care Routines" was found to be significantly related to the ratio, while the quality associated with the "Space and Furnishings" and "Program Structure" was less affected. The results of the study demonstrate the applicability of the ITERS-R in a new cultural and linguistic environment, and provide information on how staff-child ratio affects various aspects of the quality of care and education for toddlers. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.