Abstract:
The project will develop a new set of foundation science modules that will be shared among three institutions: EdUHK, CUHK and HKU. The modules will equip student teachers who lack foundational knowledge in science with the knowledge that they need to possess to fully benefit from existing science-related courses in the teacher education programmes of these institutions. The project addresses the problems that the three institutions have encountered when training non-science students to be teachers of science-related interdisciplinary school subjects. These science modules will add basic scientific knowledge to the existing science-related teacher education courses that equip student teachers with the content and pedagogical knowledge they need to teach science-related subjects in primary or secondary schools. These school subjects include Primary General Studies (GS), Junior Secondary Integrated Science (IS) and Senior Secondary Liberal Studies (LS). These modules will be designed for integration into existing courses in a flexible way to meet the requirements of individual courses. The pedagogical design of these modules will be based on a blended learning mode that combines the advantages of e-learning and face-to-face contact. The e-learning or online-learning components will be delivered through a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Moodle. This learning environment allows for self-pacing under the guidance of the course tutor. Students can work toward different goals by building on their own background knowledge. This project, the first of its kind, will involve inter-institutional collaboration in designing, piloting and evaluating the modules delivered through blended learning to meet the common needs of the education faculties. It will contribute to the capacity of science education faculties to design and implement creative and innovative curriculum designs and pedagogy to address curriculum and learning issues in teacher education.
Code:
05090
Principal Project Supervisors:
Start Date:
01 Jul 2014
End Date:
30 Jun 2016
Status:
Completed
Result:
The project is a response of the science education faculty of three Hong Kong tertiary institutes to the challenge of catering to the diversity of academic backgrounds among student teachers, particularly those without a sound science background at the senior secondary level. A number of E-learning modules have been produced covering four content domains of science. These modules are designed based on the 5E learning model and are delivered to students using the learning management system (LMS) provided by Moodle. The design of the modules is iterative, based on the evaluation of three consecutive rounds of trials through student surveys, and focus group interviews with students and course lecturers. The outcomes of the project inevitably vary with the degree of blending of the e-modules with the courses, which is dependent on the background of individual student cohorts and the nature of courses in different programmes.
There are technical challenges in terms of transforming teaching content into digital forms delivered through the LMS, and also the challenges in applying sound pedagogical designs to facilitate students’ construction of foundational science knowledge in a progressive and self-directed way. It was found that, apart from an increased degree of blending of self-directed e-learning and face-to-face lectures, the effectiveness of student learning can be improved by
pitching the module content at a level of complexity appropriate to our target groups,
identifying and supporting students in need,
using a broader range of e-learning tools to cater to diverse abilities and learning styles,
making learning activities more interactive and interesting,
incorporating more inquiry activities to enhance students’ understanding of concepts and their capacity for scientific thinking,
encouraging students to reflect on their learning and learning difficulties,
strengthening the provision of feedback and support to students in need, and
enhancing the integration of the e-learning modules into the courses.
The last point could possibly be addressed by setting aside class time for e-learning, holding quizzes in class to assess self-directed learning, and having the course lecturer provide a greater degree of facilitation to guide students through concepts that are difficult to master.
Impact:
In summary, the success of the project hinges on whether student-teachers can be motivated to learn basic science content in addition to the content covered by their major courses and whether more effective blended learning approaches can be designed to boost students’ confidence in learning science, a subject which most of them had opted out of in their senior secondary school years. Nevertheless, the project represents a conscious effort for the science teacher education faculty of different universities to pull together their resources and expertise to tackle teaching and learning issues through both technological and pedagogical means. The outcomes of this project has provided important insights into possible ways of blending e-learning with face-to-face learning approaches to create maximal synergy in catering to the needs of science learners with insufficient science backgrounds so as to prepare them for teaching science and other interdisciplinary subjects.
Deliverables:
Seminars/Presentations/Sharing Sessions
Lee, Y. C. (2015, March). Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects: A UGC T&L project. Paper presented at the Departmental Forum on Learning and Teaching, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China. (Number of participants: Over 30)(http://repository.lib.eduhk.hk/jspui/handle/2260.2/17005)
Lee, Y. C., Lau, K. C. V., & Yip, W. Y. V. (2016, May). Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects. Seminars conducted at the E-Learning in Higher Education Seminar Day cum Open Class Observation: Seminars/workshops in learning and teaching, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China. (http://repository.lib.eduhk.hk/jspui/handle/2260.2/20193)(Number of participants: over 100)
(2016, June) A seminar on "Effective use of IT in teaching Biology and Combined Science (Biology Part)" presented by Dr Valerie Yip to secondary biology teachers [in conjunction with the Education Bureau on the topic)
Books / Book Chapters / Journal Articles / Conference Papers
Lee Y.C., Lau, V. K. C., & Yip, V. W. Y. (2015). Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects: The case of Hong Kong. Paper presented at the 29th Asian Association of Open Universities Annual Conference at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 30 Nov – 2 Dec 2015.
Yip, V. W. Y. (2016). Supporting Pre-service Science Teachers to Develop Online Learning Platform for Teaching Scientific Inquiry. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Conference on 13-15 Sept 2016, University of Leeds.
Yip, V. W. Y. (2016). Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects: The case of Hong Kong. Paper to be presented at the Conference on “Borderless Open Access Education” to be held by the Association of Southeast Asian Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL) on December 4 - 6, 2016 at Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Lee, Y. C., Lau, K. C., & Yip, W. Y. V. (2016) "Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects: The case of Hong Kong", Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 11(2), pp.166-181. (http://repository.lib.eduhk.hk/jspui/handle/2260.2/22919)
Teaching and Learning Resources/ Materials (including online resources)
A total of eight modules developed as outcomes of this project have been uploaded to the KEEP platform, which was developed by the CUHK, for free access by other UGC institutions.
Type:
UGC T&L related project