This paper aims to examine teachers’ use of strategies and approaches in integrating Plastic Resources Education (PRE) into primary school life in order to overcome the challenges encountered during implementation to promote environmentally friendly practices. Case studies with eight Hong Kong teachers from PRE-participating primary schools were invited to take part in focus group interviews, to explicate their personal stories and experiences associated with the PRE implementation in primary schools. Based on the data collected from the teachers’ sharing, several challenges which are commonly reported in the previous literature, including lack of time, shortage of manpower, and insufficient pupil engagement were found. The teachers tackled the barriers by using different strategies to improve pupils’ involvement as well as getting support from the relevant stakeholders of school management and parents. The case studies provide crucial and relevant information which can be used as a reference for other schools to integrate PRE more efficiently to facilitate learning. Copyright © 2018 ASPE.

從商業教育的角度，回顧了香港STEM教育的實踐成效。通過參考國外(如新加坡及美國)STEM教育的經驗，認為香港STEM教育有可進步的空間。雖然創業教育在香港已發展成熟，並有大量專業團體的協助，但商業教育在 STEM 教育中仍未發揮應有的作用。建議推行創業 STEM教育，為學生提供一個實踐的環境，並透過跨科協助，來提升整個中學 STEM 教育的成效。 Copyright © 2018 中南大學.

This study aims to establish a robust measurement to obtain a comprehensive understanding of perceptions of programming education (POPE) of teacher and principal groups. In this study, the POPE scale contains three dimensions: (a) understanding in programming (UP), (b) support for programming (SP), and (c) expectation of programming (EP). Self-reported questionnaires were administrated among 258 teachers and 229 principals. Multigroup analyses were used among the two groups. The results of measurement invariance tests show that configural and metric invariance are fully supported, and scalar invariance is partially supported, suggesting the factor structures, loadings, and most item intercepts of the POPE scale are equivalent across the groups examined. Implications of the study are discussed.
[Copyright of Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment is the property of SAGE Publications. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734282918787670]

Schools around the globe increasingly realized the importance of technology and its application in the education system. To guarantee a successful educational innovation, schools seek out different parties for valuable opinions. Among them, parents are the important feedback providers, because their attitudes are influential on children's academic performance. Moreover, their involvement and support are considered the key factor that facilitates an effective implementation of programming education at schools. This study aimed at developing and validating an instrument measuring parents' perceptions of programming education among P-12 schools in Hong Kong. We propose that parents; perceptions of programming education is a multidimensional construct which constitutes (a) understanding, (b) support, and (c) expectation. In total, 524 questionnaires were collected from the parents who attended programming workshops and seminars. Exploratory factor analysis shows evidence for the three-dimensional construct. Confirmatory factor analysis reconfirms the measurement structure. Implications of the study are discussed.
[Copyright of Journal of Educational Computing Research is the property of SAGE Publications. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0735633118783182]

Building on Carey and Smith’s work on epistemology of science, this study characterized elementary students’ scientific epistemology from the role-of-idea and theory-building perspective. The participants included 102 elementary students in Hong Kong. Open-ended questions and coding schemes were developed to examine and characterize their epistemic understanding of science. Four key dimensions were identified: role of idea, theory-fact understanding, theory revision and creation, and social process of scientific progress. The general pattern showed that students’ views of scientific inquiry ranged from seeing it as a mechanical process involving concrete materials and sets of scientific skills, to viewing it as an idea-driven process comprising collective theory-building and knowledge creation. The analysis showed that these students generally had a limited understanding of the role-of-idea and theory-building in science. Quantitative analysis indicated that this conceptualized epistemology of science was an important predictor of students’ academic performance in science. Implications for science education and future research are discussed.
[Copyright of The Asia - Pacific Education Researcher is the property of Springer Science & Business Media. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-018-0411-4]

This study compares the learning results of three groups of secondary two (grade eight) students of a similar academic standard who participated in a teaching intervention involving different pedagogies. One hundred and forty-nine Hong Kong secondary students were chosen and divided into three groups, “whole-class teaching approach”, “group work with no specific strategies” and “group work with effective strategies”, to study the “space travel” unit in their science curriculum. The first group was exposed to traditional whole-class instruction, and the latter two practised collaborative group work, with the third adopting four effective strategies derived from a UK-based quasi-experimental project. Analyses of the pre- and post-diagnostic assessments and audiotaped discussions revealed that group work comprising effective strategies not only raised students’ test scores, but also enhanced their joint construction of conceptual knowledge in science. The findings suggest that the effective strategies adopted in this study are contributory factors to superior student accomplishments and a stronger desire to seek clarification accruing from shared cognitive activities.
[Copyright of International Journal of Science & Mathematics Education is the property of Springer Netherlands. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10763-017-9839-x]

The nature of liberal arts education merits renewed attention and consideration, especially in the context of the modern university in both Hong Kong and mainland China, where there is growing recognition that quality education standards should be improved, and an interdisciplinary approach to education and research is the way forward. The liberal arts spirit is an illustration of the power of inspiration and transformation, and through engaging with different perspectives, students are enabled and encouraged to pursue independent study, which boosts their creativity and critical thinking. As a catalyst and facilitator, liberal arts education that encompasses fresh global perspectives and connections has proved its worth over the years. However, since it is sometimes easy to lose sight of some of the fundamental principles essential to university education, we need to realize that too little interaction between science and the humanities has widened the two-culture divide, and the question is how to reconcile, or better still combine, the two. The two-culture debate, although suffering neglect for a long time in China, is of profound relevance and implications for the modern university. It can be observed that participatory interaction inherent in the dynamism of pedagogical engagement is increasingly promoted as the preferred mode of teaching students, who have benefited from broad-based learning as the embodiment of liberal education. Overcoming rigid disciplinary exclusiveness is positively correlated with empowering students with broad knowledge and skills to succeed in the future.
[Copyright of European Review is the property of Cambridge University Press. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1062798717000667]

International studies of science education, such as the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), have revealed considerable national disparities in students' achievements in science education. The results have prompted many nations to compare their science education systems and practices to those of others, to gain insights for improvement. Teacher training and professional development are key educational components that have not attracted as much attention as they deserve in international comparative studies. This study compares the conceptions and attitudes of pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) in Hong Kong and the United States with respect to inquiry science learning and teaching at the beginning of the semester before the start of the science methods course. PSETs' conceptions and attitudes in the two countries were compared by means of a questionnaire with both Likert-type and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed through the systematic categorization of PSETs' responses into broad themes and subthemes to reflect patterns in their conceptions of and attitudes toward inquiry science learning and teaching. The results revealed a complex interplay between PSETs' conceptions of and attitudes toward inquiry science learning and teaching. The results shed light on the effects of sociocultural contexts and have important implications for the design of science methods courses.
[Copyright © 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.]

Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) diving is always regarded as a risky activity to be conducted as an extra-curricular activity in the schools of Hong Kong. However, it provides a golden opportunity for students to experience the marine nature and serves as an excellent pedagogical tool of field based learning on the environmental education. The presentation will report a case study of an international school in Hong Kong on how they utilize SCUBA diving as a tool to enhance their students' knowledge about ocean and to foster the pro-environmental attitude. The teachers of the school have developed a tailor-made curriculum using problem-based approach, articulating with the discussion of current local environmental issues on marine conservation. The students have been forming a team to join the annual global citizen-scientist programme, Reef Check, to contribute their effort in revealing the health of coral community system in Hong Kong. A mixed research method, which includes semi-structured interviews of teachers, current students and alumni, and the self-administered questionnaire for them, was adopted in the study to evaluate the ocean literacy and pro-environmental attitude of the students and the effectiveness of the programme. The difficulties faced by both the teachers and the students throughout the implementation period of the programme will be reported. The opportunity and the challenge to run such a programme in the local school will be discussed, which would provide significant insights to other local schools conducting similar field-based learning and teaching activities.

In response to the Hong Kong government’s call for renewing and enriching “the curricula and learning activities of Science, Technology and Mathematics, and enhance the training of teachers, thereby allowing primary and secondary students to fully unleash their potential in innovation”, the author collaborated with a team of science teacher educators and scientists to develop a new dual major science teacher education programme called Bachelor of Education in Science (BEd(Science)) which prepares competent graduates for teaching two senior secondary science subjects (physics, chemistry or biology) as well as the junior secondary science. Compared with the conventional Bachelor of Science (BSc) programme offered by many other universities, our BEd(Science) has the special programme features of not only offering three kinds of dual majors (physics + chemistry/chemistry + biology/biology + physics) but also deliberately integrating subject knowledge with pedagogical content knowledge in many science courses, practising pedagogy in field experience (to be conducted in school environment) and delivering the programme by a teaching team composed of both scientists and science educators. Apart from five foundation courses in science and science education, there are nine advanced science subject courses plus a subject-specific pedagogy course in each chosen major. Besides, our design of the curriculum content of the BEd(Science) programme is based on a detailed examination of the local school science curricula so that it is ensured to cover all the subject knowledge necessary for the effective teaching of the corresponding school science subject. Hence, those advanced science courses or topics such as advanced quantum mechanics, which are usually required for specific scientific research but are not relevant nor required for the teaching of secondary science, will be replaced by other educational courses or topics which could effectively help school pupils remove their common