Purpose This article takes a postfoundational lens to reflect upon my ethnographic (re)searching experience in a Hong Kong high school biology classroom to expose ignorant theoretical-methodological assumptions of researchers and teachers on critical thinking for new realizations.Design/Approach/Methods Using an encountered embodied thinking moment as a trigger, this article examines the texts/discourses collected from teachers/teaching and students/learning to unpack underlying philosophical-theoretical-methodological traps and ignorance.Findings The analysis exposes three ignorant assumptions. First is a mind-body dualism that has historically disembodied thinking as an abstract and invisible mind/cognitive activity. Second is a knowledge-skill/thinking divide that upgrades critical thinking as a transferrable higher-order skill above and external to knowledge. Third is a naturalized assumption that didactic instructions in Asian classrooms are not as conducive to thinking cultivation as (Western) student-centered pedagogies.Originality/Value My postfoundational reflections interrogate and expand these philosophical-theoretical-methodological grounds to reconstruct effective thinking curricula and classrooms. Copyright © 2024 SAGE Publications Ltd.

While language teachers play a crucial role in fostering critical thinking in students as a means of strengthening their capabilities in problem-solving, informed decision-making, and effective communication, integrating critical thinking (CT) into classrooms can be challenging. This challenge is particularly prominent for teachers of English as a foreign-language (EFL), where orientation to exams and traditional teaching methods tend to prevail. Guidance and support from language teacher educators during the pre-service stage is therefore crucial, in order to equip language teachers not only with the solid knowledge and skills required to integrate CT into their pedagogy, but also with the resilience and sensitivity to determine when CT should be introduced to their students. This qualitative case study examines the attempts made by two language teacher educators in a pre-service EFL teacher education program in Hong Kong, focusing on their beliefs and practice in preparing language teachers to be critical thinkers who would be capable of effectively teaching CT in their future language classrooms. Data was collected from classroom observation and semi-structured interviews with the two participants over one academic semester. Qualitative and inductive analysis of the data revealed that both teacher educators held a strong belief in the crucial role of CT in language learning, teaching, and teacher education. Through the CT instructional strategies of triggering, exposing, guiding, and extending, they incorporated CT into their teacher education courses, with the goal of fostering a pedagogy oriented toward CT in their student teachers. The study concludes by providing insights for stakeholders interested in adopting CT-integrated language teacher education in EFL contexts. Copyright © 2024 College of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Chengchi University.

This study investigated the development of computational thinking (CT) in young children within the specific context of Hong Kong. The researchers utilized an unplugged digital arts activity to explore the CT knowledge exhibited by children and document their developmental trajectories. A sample of 23 children aged 3 to 6 years participated in an animation art workshop conducted in a Hong Kong kindergarten. The video data were recorded and analyzed in terms of content. Drawing on a three-dimensional framework combining powerful ideas for teaching coding, the observations and field notes revealed that children's CT knowledge construction aligned with the CT conceptual framework. Notably, older children demonstrated more advanced competences and more complex cognitive structures in terms of the design process, representation, algorithms, modularity, sequences, connecting, choices of conduct, and utilization of hardware/software. These findings emphasize the importance of designing age-appropriate curricula that foster children's CT skills through the animation art. Copyright ©2024 Routledge.

Background: Different instructional factors are related to students’ achievement in different cognitive domains. Most research studies on large-scale assessment focus on science achievement as an entire variable, without considering science achievement in different cognitive domains. Purpose: This study investigates the predictive effects of the frequency of teachers’ using practical work and clarity of instruction on students’ achievement in different cognitive domains. Sample: A regional representative sample of 3265 Hong Kong students who took part in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 was used in this study. Design and Method: In order to disentangle the interrelationships between science instructional factors, attitudes toward science and students’ achievement in different cognitive domains, we carried out structural equation modelling to explore the responses by 3265 Hong Kong students to TIMSS 2019 surveys. Results: Frequency of teachers’ use of practical work had a significant positive impact on students’ achievement in the domains of knowing, applying, and reasoning, while clarity of instruction had a significantly negative impact on students’ achievement in the domains of knowing and applying. Enjoyment of science mediates the relationship between the relationships between frequency of practical work and achievement in three cognitive domains. Conclusion: This informs how teachers use practical work to enhance students’ enjoyment of science, intrinsic motivation and self-concept, in order to improve their achievement in knowing, applying and reasoning science. Implications contribute to future research on how best to improve students’ achievement in all three cognitive domains are discussed. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Many Southeast Asian countries have been promoting the use of EMI in non-language subjects, including science. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is a notion which promotes students’ integration of both content and language. This chapter explores the use of a content analysis technique, an epistemic network analysis to explore how classroom interaction facilitates CLIL. We draw on Lin (2012)‘s ‘rainbow diagram’ to analyse how two Hong Kong science teachers used and expanded communicative resources to promote CLIL. These resources are L1 and L2 every day, oral and academic languages, as well as multimodal representations. A coding scheme is developed based on the ‘rainbow diagram’ from Lin (2012). Afterwards, we illustrate an innovative discourse analysis technique, epistemic network analysis, to characterise the frequency of connections between the codes generated. By qualitatively comparing the epistemic networks between teachers and students in a science practical work setting, we propose that epistemic network analysis can be used to compare the practice of CLIL of experienced and non-experienced teachers, as well as before and after professional development programmes. The strengths and weaknesses of this innovative method are then discussed. Copyright © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Samantha M. Curle and Jack K. H. Pun; individual chapters, the contributors.

This study aims to develop a self-report inventory to measure University students’ perception of their creative thinking skills. Creative thinking is a critical learning outcome in higher education and one of the essential 21st Century Competency. The data were collected from 253 students of a university in Hong Kong. A structural equation model was applied to confirm the construct validity of the instrument. The result shows that the key characteristics of creative thinking skills are empirically constructed by creative character, originality, sensitivity, synthesizing and resistance to premature closure. The five characteristics of creative thinking can be considered as learning processes or outcomes to inform the design of instructional events and learning activities to nurture students’ creative thinking skills. Copyright © 2023 by the authors.

This study examined the direct and indirect relationships between playfulness (social and cognitive spontaneity), executive functions, convergent thinking, divergent thinking, and academic skills in Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 181 second-year (4 to 5 years) kindergarten children (45.9% boys) and their parents. Parents reported demographic information and children's playfulness and executive functions through a questionnaire. Children were administered behavioral assessments of convergent thinking, divergent thinking, Chinese word reading, and number word comparison at their kindergarten. Results from a path analytic model revealed the mediating roles of convergent and divergent thinking in the relationship between playfulness and number word comparison. In contrast, convergent thinking mediated the link between playfulness and Chinese word reading. Executive functions were positively related to playfulness but unrelated to children's academic skills. The findings suggest that playful children might develop better creative thinking processes, supporting their academic skills. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of play-based learning in developing children's creativity and academic skills in the early years. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).

The potential impact of creative thinking and its contribution to successful arts practice has been argued over the last decade. Meanwhile, creative thinking has also been identified as making valuable contributions to arts and management. Cetinkaya (2014) and Kuo, Chen, and Hwang (2014) indicated that the application of creative thinking to management education is highly recommended, which needs to be developed through the learning process and still is a teaching challenge to date. This study implemented the project-based learning (PBL) approach as a treatment for tertiary arts education students over one academic year to examine its effect on their creative thinking disposition. Given this context, this study aimed to determine the improvement of creative thinking skills of art students through PBL in the arts management discipline. Consequently, the research question addressing the three dimensions is proposed and analyzed as to how they interact: creative thinking, project-based learning, and arts management education. Two theoretical frameworks were applied in this study: 1) the Creative Thinking Skills Development Framework from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER, 2020) and 2) the Essential Project Design Elements of PBLWorks (2015). The subjects were 52 art students from the Cultural and Creative Arts department at the Education University of Hong Kong. A qualitative approach was employed, while the data on students’ creative thinking skills were obtained from observations, interviews, and reflective journals. The results indicated that the integration of creative thinking and project-based learning could significantly uplift students’ learning outcomes in arts management education as they are in a complementary relationship. It provided opportunities for students in art management learning engagement and several areas of thinking skills development in relation to the current curricula objectives. Copyright © 2023 Association of Arts Administration

The present study examined the association between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, as indexed by engagement, cognitive maturity, and innovativeness in critical thinking. A total of 72 Chinese pre-service teachers were recruited from Hong Kong to complete an online questionnaire cross-sectionally. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that mindfulness was differentially associated with critical thinking dispositions. As important dimensions of mindfulness, mindful presence was positively associated with engagement in critical thinking, whereas mindful acceptance was positively associated with cognitive maturity in the regression models. However, neither mindful presence nor mindful acceptance was related to innovativeness in critical thinking. As a covariate, gender was not related to dimensions of mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions. The present findings inform the literature on the relation between pre-service teachers’ mindfulness and critical thinking dispositions, particularly in the Chinese context. As a major implication, policymakers should be made aware of the importance of strengthening pre-service teachers’ mindfulness, such that they could have a greater disposition to teach critically as they enter the workforce. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).