Approaches and Strategies

To enhance knowledge-building, develop generic skills and foster positive values and attitudes, it is important to recognise that curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are interrelated. The following diagram illustrates the nature of this inter-relationship:

Figure 4.2 The “trinity” of student learning in schools

Approaches/

Strategies

Description Examples of topics

Problem-based learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is generally described as

"an instructional strategy in which students confront contextualised, ill-structured problems and strive to find meaningful solutions". The problems are used to arouse students' curiosity engage them in analysis and critical thinking and applying what they know.

PBL tasks involve:

1. exploring problems/cases 2. identifying learning issues

3. solving problems with previous knowledge 4. identifying learning needs

5. setting learning goals and allocating tasks 6. individual study

7. sharing and teaching

8. assessment of the whole process

 1C – Positive responses to different life events

 2A – Poverty

 3A – Risk factors to health

 5D – Team building and team work

Case studies Case studies are scenarios created and used as a tool for analysis and discussion. Cases are often based on actual events, which add a sense of reality and arouses interest.

Good cases should have sufficient detail to stimulate analysis from a variety of viewpoints or perspectives.

They place the learner in the position of a problem- solver. Students become actively engaged in discovering underlying issues, dilemmas and conflicts.

 2B – Contemporary issues of vulnerability, e.g. addictions

 4B – Protection against harassment, e.g. sexual harassment/ bullying

 4C – Body shape and body image

 4D – Understanding conflicts and conflict-resolution strategies

Cooperative learning

Cooperative learning provides students with

opportunities to learn from each other, develop their interpersonal skills, learn to deal with conflict and work as a team. To create an environment for effective cooperative learning, it is necessary for (a) students to feel safe, but also challenged, (b) groups to be small enough so that everyone can contribute and (c) the tasks students work on together to be clearly defined.

 5C – Strategies for coping with stress

 5D – Team building and team work

Approaches/

Strategies

Description Examples of topics

Lecturing Lecturing is an example of teaching as direct instruction.

Lectures provide opportunities for teachers to:

emphasise important ideas; present the most up-to-date information; give personal interpretations of

subject-matter; and provide a springboard for further understanding/study.

However, teachers should also note that as lectures are teacher-centred with students remaining mainly passive, the attention span of the students may be limited. Some students, because of their learning styles, may not understand the lecture content.

 1D – Technology advancement and its impact on health and health care

 1C – The various stages of life

 4A – Primary, secondary and tertiary disease prevention

Debates The aim of using debates in HMSC is to engage students in thinking and putting forwards arguments. In preparing for a debate, students need to analyse arguments from different perspectives. Debates also encourage them to consider not only the facts of a situation but also the implications. Students need to think critically and strategically about both their own and the other teams’

positions. The competitive aspect encourages engagement and a commitment to a position, and it also provides a way for teachers to assess the quality of learning and an opportunity for peer assessment in evaluation.

 2A – Social security

 2C – Globalization and afflictions

Reading to learn

One of the objectives of reading to learn is to cultivate among students an open mind towards different

opinions, ideas, values and cultures. Thus, a wide range of reading materials from various sources should be provided.

 3B – The role of the WHO and local NGOs in formulating health and social policies

 3B – Comparison of policies between Hong Kong and other regions IT for

interactive learning

IT should be used to enhance interaction and collaboration in class or outside class for knowledge sharing (e.g. discussion) and building among HMSC students.

 2C – Common illnesses in the local context

 5B – New trends of delivery in health services or social care

Approaches/

Strategies

Description Examples of topics

IT helps to drive students to shift their learning mode from passive to active through searching for information, and challenging the views of others on the Internet. The use of multimedia - enriched presentation can also help to explain abstract concepts and, bring in authentic contexts outside the classroom to facilitate discussion.

services

 5D – Skills in interpreting information

Project learning

In project learning, students practise reading for specific purposes, collecting and analysing information,

sequencing and organising ideas, and presenting their ideas about a topic to others. They learn how to set the purposes of the project, determine the scope of study and methods used to collect data and information.

 3A – Health promotion

 3D – Contrasting Chinese and Western cultural understandings of health and illness.

 5B – Government department and non-governmental institutional provision of health care and social care

The learning and teaching of HMSC will be dry and ineffective if the focus is placed only on the transmission of knowledge in the form of facts and information from printed or electronic reference materials. If students just memorise facts, they will not have a deep understanding of the rationale, goals and key concepts of the curriculum and its content.

The following figure shows the relationship of curriculum design, learning and teaching strategies, and assessment for learning. These aspects reinforce each other in helping students to gain a thorough understanding of the subject.

Figure 4.3 The relationship of curriculum design, learning and teaching strategies and assessment

Assessment for learning Learning and teaching

Curriculum / lesson design

Teaching for understanding

Since understanding is recognised as the one of the main goals of learning, the following workflow for lesson planning may be considered.

Figure 4.4 The design workflow for teaching for understanding

Firstly, we have to identify the desired results of the lessons. What should students know, understand, and be able to do? What ideas are worth understanding? Then, we have to consider evidence of learning. How will we know if students have achieved the desired results? How will we know that they really understand the ideas identified? Finally, with the assessment evidence of understanding identified, it becomes easy for us to select the appropriate pedagogy and learning activities, focusing on understanding. Examples for designing lessons for understanding are given in Appendix 1.