There has been an increasing number of calls to apply new technologies to learning contexts for STEM education. However, limited studies have explored the role of technology in bridging teachers and children to create STEM knowledge collaboratively. Therefore, early childhood teachers encounter challenges integrating digital technologies to support children’s STEM learning. The challenges include developing effective and innovative scaffolding strategies to incorporate digital technology and visualize the processes of using technologies in children’s STEM knowledge building. This study reports on an in-depth exploratory case study from a kindergarten classroom in Hong Kong, exemplifying a new approach to integrating digital technologies within spatialized STEM learning. The case selected continuity learning episodes from a spatially directed STEM learning unit on making a safe traffic city. Under digital technology-integrated scaffolding, the teacher and children co-created a traffic symbolic system by designing symbols of landmarks, developing and applying spatial language, making maps and traffic games with rules. The thematic analysis was adopted to analyze the teachers’ STEM activity plans and reflective reports. The finding indicated that the process through which the teacher and children collaboratively created STEM knowledge via technology-integrated scaffolding involved recalling spontaneous understanding about everyday concepts, exploring ideas in authentic contexts, sorting and organizing their collected information, and identifying and correlating abstract concepts with corresponding everyday practices. The children required two levels of technology-integrated scaffolding strategies to engage in STEM knowledge collaborative creation: scaffolding for technology using and scaffolding through use of technology. Three novel roles of technology emerged that transform learning from knowledge delivery to collaborative creation in inquiries STEM tasks for young children

Long COVID, where symptoms persist after recovering from COVID-19, can affect cognitive functions like language. However, little is known about its impact on children’s language skills, especially across different school levels. This study investigated the impact of long COVID on language proficiency among 1244 children (Asian; 53.5% boys) from kindergartens (N = 408, Mage = 4.42 ± 1.26 years), primary schools (N = 547, Mage = 9.69 ± 1.96 years), and secondary schools (N = 289, Mage = 14.97 ± 1.85 years) in Hong Kong. Language proficiency was assessed using the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q), which measured speaking, listening, reading, and writing in both Chinese and English. Participants were categorized into three groups: long COVID, recovered from COVID-19, and no history of COVID-19. One-way and two-way ANOVAs were used to analyze the differences in language proficiency across these groups and school levels. Children with long COVID symptoms exhibited significantly lower overall language proficiency, particularly in speaking and listening, compared to those in the recovered and no-COVID groups. The effect was more pronounced among primary and secondary students, with secondary school students showing the most substantial deficits. No significant differences were found between the recovered and no-COVID groups. The results suggest that long COVID might have detrimental effects on children’s linguistic proficiency. The language development of older students who suffered from long COVID could benefit from receiving targeted educational and therapeutic interventions. Copyright © 2025 by the authors.

Coding is a crucial foundation for young children's cognitive development that enhances their logical and computational thinking skills for long-term learning. This study examines how young children in Hong Kong acquire coding skills through integrated STEM activities. In an innovative educational program enacted in a technology-rich 'Creative Lab' with augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and a 3D printer, the study focuses on three children aged 6–8. An explanatory case study approach was employed to collect data from classroom observations and teacher interviews. Observations targeted children's learning progress in coding activities, while the interview unpacked the applied teaching repository. The findings reveal that young children developed early coding skills using various technologies to create and apply symbols. Three strategies scaffold children’s skills enhancement stemmed from situated learning theory: 1) integrating learning content in an authentic context, 2) leveraging learners' intuitive knowledge through inquisitive practice, and 3) providing immersive learning resources. Copyright © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

To succeed in integrated writing tasks, source use is commonly regarded as an essential but demanding skill for students at different educational levels. Whereas substantial efforts have been devoted to English settings, it is less clear how students use sources in non-English contexts. This study investigated source use (i.e., source idea use and linguistic transformation) in a Chinese integrated commentary writing task undertaken by 223 secondary students in Hong Kong. Textual analysis showed that for source idea use, secondary students tended to borrow ideas from source texts more frequently than they did when generating original ideas. As for linguistic transformation, students showed a significantly higher frequency of copying information from sources than paraphrasing. Furthermore, we found a significant impact of source use on writing performance, accounting for approximately 10% of the variance in task performance. Additionally, the predictive effect of the total number of original ideas on writing performance became significant after the total number of ideas from both source texts entered the model. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of secondary students’ source use in a Chinese integrated commentary writing task, with implications for integrated writing instruction and assessment. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

Objective: Physical activity (PA) is critical for healthy development in preschoolers, with long-lasting benefits that can affect later life. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children aged 5–17 years should engage in 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day. However, physical inactivity in children is on the rise globally, with declines in PA starting at the age of 4 years. Increasing PA during early childhood is important to delay adiposity rebound, promote behavioral changes, improve physical fitness, and facilitate future PA engagement. However, limited evidence has been established on the effects of school-based PA interventions on preschoolers. This study examines the effects and sustainability of a preschool-based PA intervention on increasing PA, improving physical fitness and health in preschoolers, with the exercise dose benchmarked to the WHO PA guidelines. Methods: This assessor-blinded, two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial will include 3300 preschoolers (aged 5–6 years) from 110 kindergartens in Hong Kong, China. Kindergartens will be randomized into intervention and control groups in a 1:1 ratio. The control kindergartens will continue their usual curriculum of ∼2.5 h PA/week, whereas preschoolers in the intervention kindergartens will engage in an additional 75-min game-based PA class twice per week (extra 2.5 h PA/week) over the preschool year. This multi-component intervention will also target parents, teachers, and the kindergarten environment to further encourage PA in preschoolers and their families. Objectively measured PA, cardiorespiratory fitness and other physical fitness components (muscle strength and power, agility, balance, flexibility, body composition), and psychological health will be examined at the start (0 month) and end (10 months) of the preschool year. Maintenance effects will be assessed after preschoolers’ transition into primary school (16 months). Generalized estimating equations or other appropriate

This study investigates the differences in pragmatic competence between Hong Kong and Chinese mainland university students. Participants included 19 native speakers of English, 115 Chinese mainland students, divided into those who had spent time abroad in an English-speaking country (CM A) and those who had not (CM NA), and 97 Hong Kong students, divided into those from an English-medium secondary school (Hong Kong EMI) and those from a Chinese-medium school (Hong Kong CMI). Linguistic proficiency was measured by a C-test, and pragmatic competence by a Metapragmatic Knowledge Test, an Irony Test and a Monologic Role Play. Group scores were compared using ANCOVAs to control for differences in proficiency. The results point to a continuum of pragmatic competence-EMI > CMI > CM A > CM NA-reflecting the groups' access to English in real-life contexts. The differences between the Hong Kong groups and the Chinese mainland groups were clearest in those tests measuring processing capacity (i. e., Irony Response Time and the Monologic Role Play). CM A, but not CM NA, performed as well as the Hong Kong groups on measures of metapragmatic awareness. The results are discussed in terms of Bialystok's (1993) distinction between analyzed representation and control of processing. Copyright © 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH.

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.

Word reading fluency is crucial for early L2 development. Moreover, the practice of digital reading has become increasingly common for both children and adults. Therefore, the current study investigated factors that explain digital word reading fluency in English (L2) among Chinese children from Hong Kong. Eighty-six children (age: M = 9.78, SD = 1.42) participated in a digital silent word reading test using a mobile phone, a computer, or a tablet. This is a 10-minute timed test of English word reading. Overall, children’s digital word reading fluency was highly correlated with print word reading fluency, even when measured a year apart. A hierarchical regression model revealed that socio-economic status ( β = .333), grade ( β = .455), and English reading motivation ( β = .375) were positively and uniquely associated with performance in digital reading. These predictors explained 48.6% of the total variance in task performance. Two additional variables, i.e., the type of reading device and extraneous cognitive load, were included as well. Digital word reading fluency was significantly poorer when done using a phone as compared to a computer ( β = -.187). No significant difference was found between reading on a tablet and a computer. Extraneous cognitive load ( β = -.255) negatively and uniquely explained digital word reading fluency as well. Overall, the model explained 58.8% of the total variance. The present study represents the first attempt to highlight a comprehensive set of predictors of digital word reading fluency. Copyright ©2024 Springer.

This research delves into the washback effects of the Hong Kong Diploma of Education Examination (HKDSE) on the learning strategies employed by secondary school students in Hong Kong. By surveying 50 students to assess their English learning strategy profiles, this study seeks to identify potential biases in strategy selection indicative of examination influence. A subset of participants was further interviewed, enabling a deeper exploration of the underlying reasons behind their strategy choices. Thematic analysis of these interviews revealed that while students recognize the intended washback of the examination on their learning strategies, its actual influence might be diminished by their reservations regarding high stakes testing's effect on authentic English learning. The overarching sentiment expressed frustrations and conflict between the study of English language, and exam-centric pressures. Copyright ©2024 King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi School of Liberal Arts.

This paper reports an intervention study in the teaching of fraction concepts at a village school in Hong Kong. The classes consisted of 60 Grade three students with different cultural backgrounds, including African, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Nepalese, and Pakistani. The study represents one of the relatively few studies that investigate the effectiveness of storytelling in teaching mathematics to ethnic minority (EM) students in the East Asian context. The quantitative analysis in a pre/post-test intervention/control group design shows reduction in achievement gap between EM students in rural settings and their Chinese peers in urban districts, including concepts such as part--"whole interpretation," "fraction language," and "mathematics vocabulary." Analysis of classroom discourse based on the culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT) framework reveals the multimodal features of storytelling provide greater access for EM students in acquiring language-related conceptualizations of fractions. Based on our analysis, we argue that mathematics teaching is inseparable from language teaching, which is often ignored or not planned explicitly in the lesson. Storytelling integrates language with mathematics content authentically and allows students to cope with the language demands in learning mathematics and to encounter the mathematics in real-world context. Copyright ©2024 Springer.