Abstract

In preparing to meet the challenges resulting from the forthcoming changes in Hong Kong from a seven-year pre-university and three-year university academic structure to one that prescribes a three-year junior secondary, three-year senior secondary and four-year university education, parallel changes have been suggested in the senior secondary curriculum. Particularly worthy of note is the introduction of Liberal Studies as a core subject required for admission to university education. While Liberal Studies has been hailed as a subject that could teach our students what is missing and desperately needed in the current system, transforming them into lifelong learners who have critical thinking skills with multiple perspectives, the elusive identity of Liberal Studies has inevitably generated controversies. It is suggested that interdisciplinary areas such as human evolution or human conditions studied from an evolutionary perspective are in line with the aims of Liberal Studies. And success experiences in conducting leadership training and development programs that embody desirable qualities and skills prized in Liberal Studies could provide invaluable lessons for educators in the process of developing curriculum for Liberal Studies.

Keywords: liberal studies; leadership development; Hong Kong

Abstract

Longitudinal research on the development of gifted and talented youth suggests that they profit from accelerated, fast paced, and challenging instruction. The research also shows that educational services focused on their special talents may be more effective than general enrichment programs. Ideally instruction and educational programs should be designed to help precocious youth achieve at very high creative levels or to attain high level and creative expertise.

Keywords: talent development; high level creative achievement; accelerated and challenging instruction

Abstract

Students' beliefs influence their learning, so teachers can help students learn by cultivating constructive beliefs and amending harmful ones. Teacher influence is likely greater if student beliefs are loosely structured but weaker if student beliefs are coherent and tightly structured. We examined the structure of students' beliefs by analyzing the questionnaire responses of 2,736 Hong Kong Primary 6 students. Students' mathematics beliefs about formulas, learning by understanding, usefulness, easiness, and interest showed a strong and stable nested structure. This nested structure included a general factor and specific factors for formula, usefulness, easiness and interest. Individual differences accounted for most of the variation among student beliefs (on average, 92% at the student level and 8% at the school level). Several of these beliefs correlated with gender, tutoring, and time spent doing mathematics homework.

Keywords: mathematics beliefs; knowledge structure; mathematics education

Abstract

BRIDGES is a computerized assessment system run on the Microsoft windows Excel environment that validates self-rating multiple intelligences data. This paper reports a case study of senior secondary students at grade 12 level (N = 199) in an established school in Macao to illustrate the characteristics and functions of BRIDGES. The system is based on Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and is a tool to experiment ideas of individually configured education. The school in this research study finds the assessment system very practicable and user-friendly. Using BRIDGES, teachers are able to issue multiple intelligences spectrum to students and provide them with programs for intellectual development and services for student counseling.

Keywords: multiple intelligences; computerized assessment system; individually configured education

Abstract

This study is divided into two parts. The first part examined the teacher turnover situation in Hong Kong secondary schools from 1989 to 1992. The data, taken from Education Department and HK Subsidized Secondary School Council, showed that while there was a slight reduction of turnover and a large decline in the number of teachers changing schools in the period under study, the wastage rate of teachers remained at the same high level.

The second part involved a study of teachers' turnover intentions. This study adapted the model developed by Mobley (1982) and Willimans (1986) with job attitude acting as a moderator between turnover intention and individual and organizational characteristics. The intention was to understand how individual and possibly organizational factors caused the turnover intention of teachers. A total of 40 schools with over 600 teachers took part in the study. Logistic regressions were used to study the fitness of model. Results showed that teachers with less job satisfaction, who did not choose teaching as their first career choice and who had frequently changed schools had stronger intention to resign. Implications for school administration are discussed.

摘要

本研究分為兩部份，第一部份在了解香港中學教師流動的情況，參考資料主要來自教育署的教師轉業報告，小部份來自津貼中學議會數年來所做有關這方面的調查。研究發現，直至1992年，教師流失情況仍然嚴重，可幸教師的補充有不少的改善。

第二部份是問卷調查，目的在了解在職教師的離職傾向，研究採用Mobley（1982）及Williams（1986）的工作態度模式去探討教師意見和機構的特徵。調查一共訪問了600多位來自40所中學的教師。結果顯示被調查的教師中，發現大部份的教師都缺乏工作滿足感，轉校次數頻密的，以非教學工作為首選的教師，離職傾向較強。研究亦稍探討校方要留意的事項。

摘要

朗讀劇場是有情有趣、多感官的學習模式，把說聽讀寫有機地結合起來。用於文學課，朗讀及角色扮演使學生深入體會作者傳達的感情。本文指出除記敘文體外，抒情文類詩歌也可改編為朗讀劇場，並能夠保留原詩精華。本文以徐志摩《再別康橋》為例，指出教科書的疏漏，並強調只有仔細和大量的閱讀，才能掌握徐志摩真正的感情，從而編出精彩劇本。經過課堂實踐，學生改變劇場為詩歌禁地的看法，並且透過朗讀劇場加深對詩歌的了解，投入作者不同層次的感受。

關鍵詞：朗讀劇場；詩歌；戲劇教學

Abstract

Readers theatre is an interesting and multi-sensory mode of learning that integrates reading, writing, speaking, and listening. In a literature class, students can fully grasp the emotions expressed by the author through reading in a dramatic style. The purpose of this study is to emphasize that poems can be adapted to readers theatre and can be effectively learned and appreciated in this way. Taking the example of Xu Zhimo's Farewell Again to Cambridge, I pointed out that textbooks may only superficially interpret this poem. In order to write an authentic script for performance, students have to decipher the sophisticated and profound meaning of the poem by reading a lot of biographies and works of Xu. According to the comments given by students after a class practice of this activity, they learned that a lyrical poem can be adapted to a play with several sides of the character. In the learning process, they obtained a deeper understanding of the intricacy of the poem by adopting a theatrical mode of expression and interpretation.

摘要

官立男子漢文師範學堂是二十世紀上半葉香港中文師資的主要培訓機構，其成立有助推動當時香港基礎教育的發展。本文通過搜尋各類零星的文獻資料，探討男子漢文師範學堂的沿革、師資、學生、課程及其畢業同學會的興學活動等課題，盼能盡量理清這所漸為後人淡忘的早期師範學校的發展線索，還其在香港教師教育史上的應有位置；另外是為教育工作者借鑑其教育實踐提供基礎。文末更提出一系列值得深入探究的問題。

關鍵詞：官立男子漢文師範學堂；香港教育史；師資培訓

Abstract

The Vernacular Normal School for Men was established in September 1920 by the education authorities of the Hong Kong government to solve the problem of shortage of qualified schoolteachers. Together with the Vernacular Normal School for Women and the Tai Po Vernacular Normal School, the teacher training institutes supplied majority of the qualified pre-service Chinese teachers in Hong Kong during the ensuing decades. To date, however, there is not any detailed study of the Normal School for Men, let alone specific research into particular aspects of the teacher education institute. This article, using documentary material collected from a variety of sources, discusses the School's development, staff, students, and curriculum, as well as the contributions of its alumni association to Hong Kong's school education during and beyond the decades of its existence. It also proposes a host of questions on various aspects of the School's educational practices for future scholarly research.