Educational reforms and the practices of professional learning community in Hong Kong primary schools

Abstract

This study explored the characteristics of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Hong Kong primary schools. It investigated the profiles of the strengths of professional learning community in schools under study and particularly examined the practices in schools which were identified as strong PLCs. It extends research on PLCs in the Hong Kong context and formulates a quantitative perspective to compare and validate PLC variables across schools in Hong Kong. The Professional Learning Community Questionnaire (PLCQ) for Hong Kong schools was developed to assess the PLC practices in six different areas: leadership for teacher learning, collaborative learning capacity, student-focused orientation, a culture of sharing, mutual understanding and support, and continuous professional development. A composite construct, the Professional Learning Community Index (PLCI) expressed in quantitative terms was utilized to assess the strength of PLC in a school. The research findings show that within the schools which were identified as strong professional learning communities, both the school leaders and teachers had strong emphases on the six subscales of the PLC practices.     

Dynamics of Chinese nationalistic education in Hong Kong from 1945 to 2012

‘Chinese’ is an ambiguous term, depending on whether it is taken to describe a political, linguistic, or cultural entity. While the term has often been considered to represent a politically and culturally homogeneous national identity in recent decades, this article aims to challenge this notion by examining the characteristics and practices of nationalistic education in Hong Kong since 1945. It explores how national identity has been interpreted by different Chinese states over time through different educational policies and practices. Focusing on the evolution of nationalistic education in three phases, this article presents a detailed account and analyses different nationalist narratives over six decades. It describes how different political forces define themselves and come to terms with what are often dual or competing national identities. Historical examples illustrate the challenges in policies and practices of nationalistic education.     

Generating multiple solutions for a problem: A comparison of the responses of U.S. and Japanese students

A task involving simple mathematics, yet complex in its call for the generation of multiple solution methods, was administered to about 150 U.S. students, most of whom were in fourth grade. Written responses were examined for correctness, evidence of strategy use and mode of explanation. Results for the U.S. sample were also compared to those obtained from about 200 Japanese fourth-grade students. Students in both countries (a) produced multiple solutions and explanations of their solutions, (b) exhibited almost identical patterns and frequency of strategy use across response occasions, and (c) used the same kinds of explanations, with a majority of the responses involving solution explanations that combined both visual and verbal/symbolic features. Nevertheless, Japanese students tended to produce explanations involving more sophisticated mathematical ideas (multiplication rather than addition) and formalisms (mathematical expressions rather than verbal explanations) than did U.S. students.     

Effect of Twinning on Chinese and English Vocabulary Knowledge

Vocabulary knowledge was tested in a native (Cantonese-Chinese) and foreign (English) language in 150 twins and 150 singletons aged 6–11 years, matched on age, gender, grade level, nonverbal intelligence, parents’ education, family income, and number of siblings and household members. The singletons clearly outperformed the twins on the native vocabulary, but this “twinning effect” was much less noticeable for the foreign vocabulary. The effect on English vocabulary was further reduced after exposure to English at home was controlled. Given that these participants learned most of their English in school rather than home, the present findings support the notion that the twinning effect is associated with increased competition for family interaction in twins compared with singletons.     

Release monitoring of single cells on a microfluidic device coupled with fluorescence microscopy and electrochemistry

A method for monitoring the biological exocytotic phenomena on a microfluidic system was proposed. A microfluidic device coupled with functionalities of fluorescence imaging and amperometric detection has been developed to enable the real-time monitoring of the exocytotic events. Exocytotic release of single SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells was studied. By staining the cells located on integrated microelectrodes with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde, punctuate fluorescence consistent with localization of neurotransmitters stored in vesicles was obtained. The stimulated exocytotic release was successfully observed at the surface of SH-SY5Y cells without refitting the commercial inverted fluorescence microscope. Spatially and temporally resolved exocytotic events from single cells on a microfluidic device were visualized in real time using fluorescence microscopy and were amperometrically recorded by the electrochemical system simultaneously. This coupled technique is simple and is hoped to provide new insights into the mechanisms responsible for the kinetics of exocytosis.     

Social axioms and achievement across cultures: The influence of reward for application and fate control

The present research examined the relationships between two social axiom dimensions, reward for application and fate control, with various achievement-related indexes across a wide range of cultures. Results showed that there was no relationship between reward for application and academic achievement or economic competitiveness, but reward for application was positively related to effort exertion and favorable attitudinal reactions to striving. In contrast, fate control was positively related to academic achievement and economic competitiveness, but not to effort exertion and attitudes toward striving. A number of speculations are provided to account for these intriguing findings.     

Resourcefulness: a protective factor buffer against the academic stress of school‐aged children

The objectives of this study were twofold: to examine the interaction of academic stress and student resourcefulness on subject grades and to identify the factors of parental support that contribute to student resourcefulness. The participants of this cross‐sectional study were 695 fifth and sixth graders from four major districts in Shanghai. Student resourcefulness was observed to moderate academic stress and subject grades. Moreover, perceived paternal emotional support and maternal informational support contributed significantly to student resourcefulness. The implications of this study for parent education are discussed.     

Theoretical and experimental studies of heat transfer with moving phase-change interface in freezing and thawing of porous potting soil

Soil in a cold region is subject to frequent freezing and thawing cycles. Soil frozen for a prolonged period may cause adverse freeze damage to the plants due to cell dehydration or root cell rupture. It is important to understand the detailed heat transfer behaviors of the freezing and thawing processes to prevent freeze damage, and to devise proper mitigation measures for effective pot planting in cold regions. A theoretical model was developed to analyze the transient moving phase-change interface heat transfer in the freezing and thawing of porous potting soil. The theoretical derivation is based on the assumption that the soil freezes completely at a single temperature. Microscopic poromechanic effects on heat transfer behavior were ignored. The spatial domain of the problem was simplified to a 1 D spherical coordinate system with variation in the radial direction. Green＇s function was applied to solve for the time-dependent body temperature. Experiments were conducted for validation of the theoretical model Reasonable agreement between the theoretical predictions and experimental measurements was obtained. The theoretical model developed can be easily used to determine the sensitivity of various parameters in the freezing/thawing processes, e.g., thermal properties of soil, ambient temperature, and planting pot size.     

Analysis of STEM Activities in Primary Students’ Science Projects in an Informal Learning Environment

This study adopted a researcher-generated framework to analyze STEM activities demonstrated in primary students’ science projects in an annual extracurricular event held in Hong Kong. Ten students’ project reports were randomly selected from each of the three groups of 24 outstanding, 45 merit, and 68 consolation awarded projects. Content analysis was conducted to code the activities in each project. The coded information was then changed into numerical data for quantitative analysis. The results showed that, in general, more engineering and science activities than technology and mathematics activities were adopted by the primary students in their projects. More projects with the Outstanding Award conducted STEM activities than those projects with Merit and Consolation Awards, and significant group differences existed in the science and mathematics activities. Besides, science activities significantly positively related to engineering and mathematics activities. Furthermore, STEM-related content knowledge of discipline core ideas and crosscutting concepts were reported. This study sheds light on the pattern of STEM activities in students’ science projects, and has implications for promoting STEM integration in primary education.     

Tutor Versus Peer Group Assessment of Student Performance in a Simulation Training Exercise

The performance of a group of third‐year higher diploma students from the Department of Hotel & Tourism in a simulation training exercise was assessed separately by the tutor and peer group, using an identical checklist. Ninety‐six pairs of tutor and peer group assessment marks were obtained and compared. Results showed that there was some degree of agreement between tutor and peer group markings, although the level of congruence was somewhat less than reported in earlier studies. However, when the tutor and peer group average marks were converted to grades, agreement was found in only 46.9% of the cases and the level of agreement between the two gradings was not statistically significant. Significant differences were also found in the variability of tutor and peer group markings. Furthermore, there were indications that peer group markings tended to be more stringent than tutor markings in the higher mark range, but relatively more lenient in the lower mark range. This trend was particularly obvious when the tutor and peer group marks were converted into grades. Implications of the findings are also discussed.