Boosting financial literacy: benefits from learning study

This paper reports on a study that employed a theory-based approach in the form of a learning study to enhance a domain-specific generic capability, financial literacy, of Grade 12 students to empower them to make informed and independent financial decisions. Financial literacy is seen in this study as a function of student understanding of a limited set of interrelated economic concepts that can be used as tools to assess financial situations and make sound financial decisions. Twelve teachers participated in the study. Six worked together in a learning study group and drew on a particular theory of learning in planning and carrying out lessons designed to serve the learning aims, whereas the other six worked collaboratively in a lesson study group. To evaluate the effectiveness of the two learning conditions created by the two groups, 193 students answered questions on complex, everyday financial situations in four tests: a pretest, a posttest following the research lessons, and delayed posttests 6 weeks and 6 months after instruction. The results showed that students in the learning study group outperformed their counterparts in the lesson study group in all three post-lesson tests, and that the inter-group performance gap was maintained or widened over time.     

Mundi: articulating a post-Umbrella common(s)

ABSTRACT

This paper shares the experiences of an emergent collective of young intellectuals in Hong Kong and its recent project, Mundi, which consists of publication, activist research and communal transmission of knowledge. The project negotiates the notion and practice of “common” at the limit, from within the historical experience of Hong Kong, between academia and public intellectuals, global universalism and local particularism, and colonial knowledge and everyday urban practice. Affected by an intense desire to analyse and theorise the reality of Hong Kong, Mundi engages in a long process of decolonising knowledge production. The paper also explores how Mundi responds to the demand of the present post-Umbrella Hong Kong situation by problematising and re-articulating the common.     

Implementation of School-Based Management: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of the Case of Hong Kong

The implementation of school-based management reform is a complicated process involving changes not only in structures and political relations but also in social interactions and cultural elements at both school and system levels. The lack of multi-perspectives in the analysis of school reforms sets a tight limitation on the understanding and implementation of school-based management. This paper aims to apply the structural perspective, the human resource perspective, the political perspective, and the cultural perspective to review and analyse the case of Hong Kong in implementing school-based management. It is hoped that the analysis of the Hong Kong case can provide an useful illustration of the application of multi-perspectives to support development of school-based management and draw useful implications for school reforms in both local and international contexts.     

The Characteristics of Hong Kong School Principals' Leadership: The Influence of Societal Culture

This paper aims to identify the characteristics of principal leadership in Hong Kong. More specifically, it analyzes and integrates a number of studies to identify the consistency of principal leadership across the years and samples using a number of different leadership conceptions. These conceptions include both traditional and alternate approaches to educational leadership. The paper shows how societal culture and context combine with the principals' personal attributes to shape their school leadership. Findings indicate considerable diversity among Hong Kong principals even though they operate within the same social system. The paper stresses the importance of understanding culture and context if worthwhile leadership development programmes are to be developed.     

Dielectrophoretic manipulation of particles in a modified microfluidic H filter with multi-insulating blocks

The conventional microfluidic H filter is modified with multi-insulating blocks to achieve a flow-through manipulation and separation of microparticles. The device transports particles by exploiting electro-osmosis and electrophoresis, and manipulates particles by utilizing dielectrophoresis (DEP). Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) blocks fabricated in the main channel of the PDMS H filter induce a nonuniform electric field, which exerts a negative DEP force on the particles. The use of multi-insulating blocks not only enhances the DEP force generated, but it also increases the controllability of the motion of the particles, facilitating their manipulation and separation. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate the controlled flow direction of particles by adjusting the applied voltages and the separation of particles by size under two different input conditions, namely (i) a dc electric field mode and (ii) a combined ac and dc field mode. Numerical simulations elucidate the electrokinetic and hydrodynamic forces acting on a particle, with theoretically predicted particle trajectories in good agreement with those observed experimentally. In addition, the flow field was obtained experimentally with fluorescent tracer particles using the microparticle image velocimetry (μ-PIV) technique.     

Beyond ``lesson study': Comparing two ways of facilitating the grasp of some economic concepts

During three discussion sessions, two groups offive teachers each developed a shared lessonplan, one for each group, for the teaching of adifficult economic concept, the incidence of asales tax. In one of the groups (the lessonstudy group), the lesson plan was based on thepool of the participants' experience andintuition in accordance with the Japanese``lesson study'. In the other group (thelearning study group), the lesson plan wasbased on the participants' experience andintuition as made sense of in terms of alearning theory introduced by a researcher inaccordance with the idea of ``the learningstudy', in which the Japanese lesson study iscombined with a ``design experiment'. Thestudents' understanding was probed after theseries of lessons. In the classes of the lessonstudy group, fewer than 30% of the studentsdeveloped a good grasp of the concept, comparedto over 70% of the students in the learningstudy group. The differences in learningoutcomes are interpreted in the light ofobserved differences in how the concept wasdealt with in the different classrooms.     

儒家文化对认知发展的影响

本论文研究儒家文化对中国儿童认知发展有何影响。文献归类为几方面的研究：早期控制冲动的能力与日后学业成就的关系，言语能力与非言语能力的比较，创造力的培养，学业成就动机，成就动机与集体取向的关系，对学习成败的信念与归因，及学习方式与思维。证据表明儒家文化①强调把早期冲动控制的掌握作为日后学业成功的先决务件，②培育植根于集体主义倾向的学业成就动机，③把成功或失败归因于努力。其教学和学习的方式着重于记忆和重复练习，而不是鼓励发现、创造和元认知。     

Visual Instruction to Enhance Teaching of Technical Subject to Design Students

Visual instruction complementing verbal lectures is known to promote learning among students. In this study, the role of visual instruction in engaging learners effectively via the simplification of technical concepts was examined. Different aspects of visualisation, such as order of presenting and dimensionality, were tested to observe their effect on students’ approach to learning and learning outcomes. In this mixed‐method quasi‐non‐experimental explanatory study, visual instruction was applied in one of the undergraduate architecture modules that teaches fundamentals of building systems, which students often find difficult to comprehend. Three key variables, including spatial cognitive ability, approach to learning and learning outcomes, were measured using statistically valid instruments along with students’ feedback and interviews. These factors were also measured for the control group that did not receive visual instruction (n = 32), to assess the effect of the intervention. When taught with visualisation, students (n = 69), showed a significant increase in deep approach to learning (e.g., deep motive: t = 2.584, p = 0.011). In interviews, students expressed a deeper interest in the subject and reported that the topic was engaging in class. Visualisation favours students with a higher spatial ability and, thus, is useful for design students who receive spatial ability training in the course. Two‐dimensional visuals must be followed and preceded by three‐dimensional visuals to provide advanced organisation and the connection of new knowledge with known organisational models to be made.     

雨水贮集设施之减洪效益选址研究

山坡地区遇上连日暴雨时,不但引起土壤冲蚀和山崩,更易造成径流集中,使洪峰径流量大幅增加,带来下游地区严重洪水及泥沙灾害.而雨水贮集可以有效的减少径流量,进而达到防洪减灾的效果,所收集来的雨水也可以做进一步的利用,如农田灌溉,或者引至社区作为浇花、洗车、冲厕等用途,达到水资源的有效利用.该研究选择汐止市为仿真对象,利用地理信息系统(GIS)及农业非点源污染模式(AGNPS)仿真分析出合适的雨水贮集设施设置地点.该研究设计在一定的径流量、输沙量、及坡度等适合设置雨水贮集设施限制条件,利用AGNPS的特性,由计算机筛选出符合限制条件的地点.一共在研究区526个方格中找到36个方格符合设置雨水贮集设施的地点,这些方格绝大部分都分布在集水区的上游地区.因此确信可以利用AGNPS模式来做为自动选址的方法,以节省大量的人力、物力及时间.     

底部框架抗震墙砌体房屋结构选型的研究

通过对底部框架抗震墙砖屋震害资料的分析研究，就其结构选型中的一些问题提出了看法和建议。