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thinking skills by being required to make sense of experiences, information, events and occurrences. In order to bring this about teachers should:

identify the concepts in a particular topic in the ERS curriculum;

consider the values and attitudes which the learning experience will promote;

decide if there are particular skills which students need to develop to help them assimilate the targeted concepts, values and attitudes; and

select an appropriate issue or event which might help in the development of the concepts, values and attitudes, and skills that have been identified.

Facilitating students’ acquisition of crucial ethical concepts through social issues Cloning has multiple meanings. It may refer to the production of two identical embryos by the splitting of a natural embryo with electric shock. This technique has been adopted by the rearing industry for many years. It may also refer to the cloning of an organism by means of nuclear transfer technology, a technological development which has aroused the whole world in recent years.

Cloning is discussed in great depths, and with different focuses, in the fields of biology, medicine, technology, law, etc. In ethics, the discussing of cloning should focus on its effect as an asexual reproduction method on human relationships, morality and society;

rather than the details of nuclear transfer technology, the genetic recombination process, the working of the biological clock, etc.

In discussing with students a highly controversial social issue such as cloning in the realm of the ethics, the teacher helps them understand the focus and content of the controversies around cloning (especially the cloning of human beings), so that they may identify important concepts such as the definition of a human being, nature law, the limitations of life, value of life, human dignity, sacredness of life, right to live, reproductive rights, etc.

Thus, students can understand the numerous supporting and opposing views to cloning, analyse the underlying rationale, assess their tenets and justifications, and consolidate and construct personal stance about the issue.

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4.1.2 Roles of learners and teachers

In addition to being transmitters of knowledge, teachers have a key role to play in facilitating learners’ learning, developing their capacity for independent learning and building their confidence in searching for the meaning of life. To enable learners to assume greater ownership of their own learning and be more confident in making moral judgements, teachers are encouraged to: negotiate learning objectives and content with students; create a supportive and harmonious learning atmosphere; act as role models and leaders of learning;

promote quality interaction in the classroom; provide appropriate scaffolding and quality feedback; and promote positive values and attitudes.

As students are relatively more mature at senior secondary level, they should be allowed a degree of autonomy in choosing what and how to learn. They should, therefore, be encouraged to set meaningful and realistic goals for their own learning, engage confidently and meaningfully in learning activities, reflect on their learning experiences, and monitor and evaluate the progress they are making against the set goals.

4.2 Guiding Principles

Outlined below are guiding principles for effective learning and teaching in ERS.

Building on strengths: Hong Kong classroom demonstrates many positive features of Chinese students (such as the attribution of academic success to effort and the social nature of achievement motivation) and teachers (such as a strong emphasis on subject disciplines and moral responsibility). These strengths and uniqueness of local students and teachers should be acknowledged and treasured.

Prior knowledge and experience: Learning activities should be planned with the prior knowledge and experience of students in mind. Teachers need to find out what students know at the beginning of the study of a module or an issue.

Understanding learning objectives: Each learning activity should have clear learning objectives and students should be informed of them at the outset. Teacher should also be clear about the purpose of assignments and explain their significance to students.

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Teaching for understanding: The pedagogies chosen should aim at enabling students to act and think flexibly with what they know.

Promoting independent learning: Generic skills and reflective thinking ability should be nurtured. The students should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning.

Motivation: Learning is best achieved when students are motivated. Motivation strategies should be used to arouse the interest of students.

Resources: A wide range of teaching resources should be employed as tools for learning.

Engagement: In conducting learning activities, it is important to engage the minds of students actively and to keep them “on task”.

Feedback and assessment: Feedback and assessment should be used as an integral part of learning and teaching.

Catering for learner diversity: As students bring a wide variety of experiences, needs, interests and aspirations to the learning process in ERS, teachers should employ a wide range of strategies to cater for student diversity. The diversity among students also provides opportunities for them to co-construct knowledge and share life experiences in a learning community and enrich each other’s learning.

4.3 Approaches and Strategies

4.3.1 From enquiry to reflection

This curriculum encourages teachers to adopt an enquiry approach to help students explore religious traditions, ethical issues and human experiences. However, at the end of their enquiry, students should also be motivated to develop their reflective thinking based on what they have learned. Most models of enquiry learning are cyclical and have three basic phases: exploring, understanding and expressing. This should be followed by a reflecting phase where students reflect upon learning experiences and the meanings embedded within them.

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Exploring

The basic criterion for the choice of a topic should be its worth as an area of exploration, i.e.

whether it has the potential for achieving curriculum objectives and extending students’

understanding. Exploring topics with a focus on people and their religious experiences provides students with a meaningful entry point to start their learning about religious beliefs.

How can exploring be a meaningful entry point for learning?

To motivate students to learn and help them to identify what they are going to learn in ERS, teachers are encouraged to give students opportunities to understand human experiences in different aspects of life which take them beyond their own experiences to explore other people’s perspectives. For example, they can:

 interview elderly people about their views on ageing and suffering;

 listen to different people’s views on what religion brings to them;

 talk to someone who has experience of pilgrimage;

 conduct a survey among adults on the reasons for having religious beliefs, followed by a discussion of their views afterwards;

 participate in a debate about whether religion is necessary for a harmonious society;

and

 discuss the pros and cons of ethical issues such as cloning and euthanasia.

Understanding

Through various learning experiences such as data collection, discussion, case studies and interviews, students come to understand ideas and concepts and the complex relationships between them, which they can relate to content knowledge.

Understanding in ERS involves linking new ideas and knowledge to the existing experience of students. This includes making a direct linkage to previous experiences and learning.

Teachers should be aware of activities in which students are currently engaged and help them to explore further the knowledge they have acquired.

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How can teachers be certain that students have understood something?

When students understand what they have learned and can construct meaning from it, teachers may find that they:

 challenge their previous knowledge and understanding;

 are willing to respond to the challenges of others;

 participate in a variety of formal and informal religious or ethical activities;

 take appropriate risks and learn from their “mistakes”;

 critically examine their own and others’ knowledge, actions and assumptions;

 achieve success and a sense of achievement in their learning;

 build new knowledge through linking it to what is already known;

 negotiate, make choices in, and take their share of responsibility for learning; and

 discuss the process of learning and teaching.

An interview with S6 students – linking Religious Studies to service learning A group of S6 students from SKH Kei Hau Secondary School organised the “Integrated Community Carnival” with physically disabled volunteers. They integrated their previous learning in Religion lessons with this service experience, and gained a deeper understanding of religious concepts. One of the students reflected, “We have applied Christian concepts in designing the game booth. I think that the teachings in the Bible, such as “The parable of the lost sheep” and “The parable of the good Samaritan”, gave us insights about helping disabled people.”

Expressing thoughts and beliefs

In ERS, there is respect for the patterns of belief, feelings, thoughts and experiences of students, all of which are a potential source for learning. They become available for exploration and evaluation only when ample time and opportunity are given for their expression. Teachers are therefore encouraged to design activities which provide the maximum opportunity and freedom for students to express their ideas and responses. To encourage this, a classroom environment in which they are given support in articulating their thoughts and feelings is vital.

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How to create a classroom climate which supports students’ expression of their ideas To promote a supportive environment in which students feel confident in expressing their ideas, teachers should ensure that:

 the classroom climate emphasises care, support and quality relationships based on mutual respect for all involved in the learning and teaching process;

 the classroom environment values effort, provides achievable but challenging expectations, builds self-esteem and encourages students to become responsible and independent learners;

 the special needs and abilities of students are identified and active planning is undertaken to meet them;

 opportunities are provided for students to express their ideas based on an informed knowledge base;

 there is effective communication among all students;

 students are able to focus on learning; and

 skills are explicitly taught within relevant contexts.

Reflecting

At the heart of ERS is the human need to formulate a set of beliefs and values. Reflection in this context involves evaluating in an honest and informed way the worth and relevance of beliefs and their accompanying values.

By reflecting on their learning experiences, students create personal meaning, develop and deepen empathy with others, and identify skills to be learned, valued and held for a lifetime.

Subsequently, students try to implement their ideas and to test them against real-world experience, through which they develop the capacity to direct and assess their personal development for the rest of their lives.

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How to organise reflective activities

Reflective thinking skills enable students to make appropriate life choices. Acquiring these skills is one of the most important objectives in learning ERS. A variety of activities can be used to facilitate reflection. When planning such activities, teachers should note that:

 reflective activities should involve students and their peers, teachers and the people concerned; and

 different types of reflective activities are appropriate for different stages of learning.

Reflective activities can involve reading, writing, doing and telling. For example, teachers can:

 ask students to say what they got out of given details about a phenomenon , or ask questions such as “What do you think was the most important in what you have just learned?” or “If you had to summarise this case in two minutes, what would you say?”;

 assign case studies to help students think about what to expect from the study of particular topics;

 use journals to direct students to important issues and reinforce their learning experience by asking them to analyse how different ethical perspectives are presented and what moral values are embedded in a piece of writing;

 encourage discussion among students to introduce different perspectives and to challenge each other to think critically about the issues involved; and

 ask students to present what they have learned in terms of the major concepts related to their studies.

4.3.2 Choosing appropriate learning and teaching strategies

The pedagogy adopted by the teacher is crucial to the quality of learning and teaching ERS.

In order to respond to the varied needs, interests, experiences and learning styles of students, teachers are encouraged to adopt a wide repertoire of pedagogical approaches to suit different learning and teaching contexts and purposes. It is true that teachers are also varied in their teaching styles, but it is necessary for them to try out other pedagogical approaches and extend their repertoire.

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There are in general three major views of teaching:

Teaching as direct instruction: This view focuses on the teacher as the deliverer of the curriculum. The teacher transmits knowledge and tells learners what to do. Explanation, demonstration or modelling is adopted to enable learners to gain knowledge and understanding of a particular aspect of the subject.

Teaching as enquiry: This view places emphasis on the learners engaging in enquiry. The teacher gives learners a variety of tasks that ask them to search for and process information, and solve problems. In this enquiry, mutual support among learners is encouraged, so that all learners contribute to the construction of knowledge. In debating as well as activities in which learners are required to express their ideas, points of views and feelings, learners explore issues and practise their thinking skills.

Teaching as co-construction: This view focuses on the class as a community of learners.

Learners contribute collectively to the creation of knowledge and criteria for assessment through discussion and group tasks. The approach encourages members of the class to negotiate areas of study with the teacher and then work collaboratively to conduct research and make presentations on topics that are of interest to them. In the process, the learners are encouraged to make contributions, propose their own standpoints, apply their learning skills and tap the rich sources of knowledge in the world.

These approaches do not need to be kept apart. They can be intertwined to complement each other. Teachers should try to vary the use of approaches to suit the learning context and to achieve optimal results. The table below identifies key aspects, strengths and limitations of the above views of teaching, and provides recommendations which teachers can refer to when arranging the learning and teaching activities for a specific topic.

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Related pedagogies Strengths Limitations Roles of teacher Recommendations

Lectures

Didactic questioning

Explicit teaching and practice

Demonstrations

Talk given by guest speakers

Conveys large amounts of information

Provides detailed information on concepts

Involves step-by-step instruction for skill acquisition

Provides maximum teacher control

Is easier to plan and use

Emphasises listening only

Students tend to be passive recipients

Little feedback from students to teachers

Requires an effective speaker

Requires an attentive audience

Not very suitable for developing

higher-order thinking

Not very suitable for complex materials

The teacher is an instructor or a lecturer.

The teacher presents the information to be learned.

The teacher directs the learning process.

The teacher identifies lesson objectives and takes the primary responsibility for guiding the instruction.

The teacher is responsible for explaining and demonstrating.

Compulsory Part: Theory of Conduct A lecture on the definition of the

Act-utilitarianism and Rule-utilitarianism.

Elective Part: Buddhism – Development of Buddhism in India

Invite a guest speaker to give a talk on his/her experience of yoga and explain the relationship between yoga and Buddhism.

Elective Part: Christianity – History between the Two Testaments

A lecture on the measures and effects of Hellenization when Greece seized Palestine.

Figure 4.1 Teaching as Direct Instruction

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Related pedagogies Strengths Limitations Roles of teacher Recommendations

Reflective discussion

Case studies

Debates

Report writing

Reflective journals

Worksheets

Surveys

Pools ideas and experiences from a group

Is effective after a presentation, film or video show, or other learning experiences that need to be analysed

Allows everyone to participate actively in the process

Develops students’

analytical and problem-solving skills

Allows students to apply new

knowledge and skills

More time- consuming

Outcomes can be unpredictable

Possibility of students not seeing the relevance to their own situations

More demanding on the skills and

experience of the teacher

The teacher is a facilitator, supporter and resource person.

The teacher is encouraged to use open-ended questions and to persuade students to give more explanation or

elaboration of their answers.

Compulsory Part: Business and Economics Ethics – Poverty

Ask students to investigate the ways in which religious organisations alleviate poverty, and evaluate their effectiveness.

Elective Part: Buddhism – Buddhism in China Ask students to collect pictures, photographs and articles on one of the following for conducting a case study so as to help them have a deeper understanding about the development of Buddhism in China:

(i) Statues of Buddha;

(ii) Costumes of Buddhist monks and nuns; or (iii) Buddhist architecture.

Elective Part: Christianity – Temptation Write a report on “The types of temptation which young people in Hong Kong face today”.

Figure 4.2 Teaching as Enquiry

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Related pedagogies Strengths Limitations Roles of teacher Recommendations

Group discussion

Role-play

Group projects

Experiential learning

Students share in planning and directing their learning.

Students can learn from peers and teachers and develop their social skills.

Individuals’ thoughts can be shared in a group.

Provides

opportunities for understanding the roles of others and thus appreciating their points of view.

Heavily dependent on the expertise of the teacher in structuring and developing the dynamics of the group.

Relies heavily on the observation,

listening,

interpersonal, and intervention skills of both the teacher and students.

Not appropriate for large groups.

The teachers and students seek knowledge together.

The teachers have to provide a supportive and challenging environment for the exchange of ideas.

The teacher acts as a facilitator who helps to shape the learning paths through

questioning or debriefing.

Compulsory Part: Life and Death – Euthanasia Organise a debate on the topic: “Euthanasia should be legalised in cases of incurable disease”.

Elective Part: Buddhism – Life of the Buddha Ask students to write a short play on “The life of Buddha”, selecting the most important events which highlight his compassion for living things, and his motives for leaving his family in search of ideals.

Elective Part: Christianity – The Last Supper Ask students to do a group project to investigate the meaning and influence of the Last Supper for non-Christians as well as Christians.

Figure 4.3 Teaching as Co-construction

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4.3.3 Experiential learning

Experiential learning is a student-oriented learning mode which enables learning by doing. In the process of experiential learning, students learn through a series of carefully designed activities. Students are encouraged to observe, think, analyse, synthesise, evaluate their experiences, and apply what they have learnt in their daily life.

A meaningful learning journey

Experiential learning plays an important role in the learning and teaching of this curriculum.

It is a learning journey with an awareness of human needs, a concern for shared human experience and a willingness to identify with others. This involves awareness that one can act on one’s environment to contribute to the welfare of other people.

Students are the primary beneficiaries of experiential learning

The Principal of SKH Kei Hau Secondary School expressed her feelings on experiential learning, “students engaged in experiential learning are called upon to move beyond their individual concerns and the perceived limits of their abilities to embrace the very things that make us human. To know that some people are in need, to know that one is capable of responding, to know that one’s response will make a significant difference to individuals and the community – all these are powerful keys to human growth and meaningful learning.”

Partnership in learning

Instead of viewing students as passive recipients, experiential learning suggests that students are competent, intelligent and resourceful learners who are willing to contribute to their communities and society. When students take responsibility for their learning, the teacher takes on the role of mentor, guide and facilitator. In experiential learning, teachers are no longer instructors, since it is the students who direct their own experiential learning and determine what meaning to derive from it.

Experiential learning allows the development of a good partnership between students and teacher. As “learning by doing” is the central tenet of this strategy, there are opportunities for teachers and students to learn together and from each other. This fosters good teacher-student relationships. By giving students a sense of responsibility in their own learning, they can become self-directed learners.

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