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HKU Faculty of Education holds “Self-Directed Learning in Science (SDLS) Student Award Scheme 2016 – The Young Scientists’ Party”

09 Jul 2016

A joint school self-directed learning in science contest, “Self-Directed Learning in Science (SDLS) Student Award Scheme 2016 –Young Scientists’ Party”, was held today (July 9) at Rayson Huang Theatre and 1/F, Runme Shaw Building, the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The event was organised by the Centre for Information Technology in Education (CITE) of the Faculty of Education at HKU. It is a signature event of the “Self-Directed Learning in Science with e-learning support for Learner Diversity and Smooth Primary-Secondary Transition (SDLS)” University-School Support Programme. For details, please visit the website: http://sdls.cite.hku.hk.

The programme funded by the Education Bureau is a three-year (2014-2017) project, aiming to provide support to teachers and schools to implement self-directed learning (SDL) in the Science Key Learning Area (KLA) in the upper primary (P4-6) General Studies and lower secondary (S1-3) Integrated Science subject in Hong Kong schools. The ultimate, overarching goal is to nurture and develop students’ self-directed learning ability and equip them to become confident and capable life-long learners in the 21st century so as to improve students’ self-efficacy and achieve smooth transition from primary to secondary school education in the science KLA.

The Students Award Scheme was a signature event for students in our participating schools (both primary and secondary) to showcase and celebrate a wide range of their achievements on self-directed learning progress and outcome, e-Learning and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related areas on their learning in General studies and Science learning. Apart from this, teachers and principals also shared their practical experiences in their learning design as well as school implementation to serve as a hub for the promotion of SDL, e-Learning and STEM education among schools. There was also a demonstration of teaching and learning materials of STEM education.

There were 30 schools participating in this project this year and all were invited to attend the Scheme. A total of 18 schools, 8 primary and 10 secondary, enrolled for this contest. About a hundred students from Primary 4 to Secondary 2 shared with the participants their self-directed scientific investigation which included the topic of investigation, the learning process, their findings as well as the products. The three teams of finalists gave a formal presentation in the Rayson Huang Theatre and answered questions from all judges and contestants, to compete for the Champion, the first and the second runner-up respectively.

Principals, teachers, students and parents of the project schools were invited to this event. Various stakeholders in the field of Education were invited to be the judges and guests of honour. The judges included Professor TSUI Lap-Chee, President of The Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong; Professor Nancy LAW, Faculty of Education, HKU; Dr Valerie YIP, Faculty of Education, HKU; Mr TANG Wing Hong, Vice Principal of CCC Rotary Secondary School; Mr LAM Wai Choi, Principal of TWS St. Bonaventure Catholic Primary School; and Ms Ling HUNG, Senior Development Manager of HKEdCity. The guests of honour included Dr Catherine KK CHAN, Deputy Secretary for Education, Education Bureau, HKSAR and other EDB officers.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Emily Cheung, Senior Manager (Development and Communications), Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong (Tel: 2219 4270 / fax: 2540 6360 / email: emchy@hku.hk).