Fieldwork investigation at Tung Chung (Pui Ching Middle School)
VI. Students develop their fieldwork reports
Students submit a written fieldwork report of not more than 2,000 words in Chinese or English.
Information extracted from books or other secondary data sources must be acknowledged.
Figure 1 Suggested design procedures for local fieldwork based on “hot” news
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Figure 2 Examples of geographical questions related to the “Nathan Road road safety improvement plan”
Using the five “Ws” to analyse the “Nathan Road road safety improvement plan”:
What is it?
Where is it?
Why is it there?
What are the effects of it being there?
How is it changing over time?
What action is appropriate?
What are the major traffic problems in Hong Kong / along Nathan Road?
Where are the traffic problems mentioned in the “hot” news?
What are the causes of traffic problems at that section of Nathan Road?
What is the impact of the traffic problems at Nathan Road on the surrounding area?
Will the traffic problems at that part of Nathan road change over time?
Do the above traffic problems only occur at daily rush hours?
Are there any variations in the nature of the traffic problems between weekdays and the weekend?
What changes would there be after the implementation of the policy proposed by the Transport Department?
If no measures are taken, will the traffic problems in that particular section of Nathan Road persist?
Will the above traffic problems get worse in the coming years?
What are the possible measures to alleviate the traffic problems at Nathan Road?
Is the proposed road diversion strategy feasible? Will the same traffic problems be diverted to the inner streets?
Can the inner streets bear the extra pedestrian and vehicular flows with the implementation of the road diversion strategy? What is the possible impact of the strategy on land rent, land uses, economic activities and the environment of the affected area?
Why has the Transport Department chosen Reclamation Street and Shanghai Street for road diversion instead of Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Tung Choi Street?
Why did the Transport Department not make reference to the practice at the junction of Peking Road and Kowloon Park Drive to construct pedestrian subways at the traffic black spots of Nathan Road?…
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Geographical concepts related to the
“Nathan Road road safety improvement plan”
Transport problems Urbanisation
Transport planning Internal structure of a city Traffic management Types of land use
Sustainable development Land rent and accessibility Location and spatial distribution Urban problems
Location factors Competition and succession
Change over time Agglomeration
Environment Geographical inertia
People–environment …
interrelationship
Figure 3 Concepts related to the “Nathan Road road safety improvement plan”
Notes to teachers:
Timing is a prime factor, as interest in news topics can decline quickly.
Teachers need to modify the fieldwork activities according to the needs, interests and abilities of their students. For more able students, teachers can consider giving students only the framework of the fieldwork enquiry in Figure 1 and ask them to develop their own enquiry questions. For those who are less able, teachers could provide more assistance by giving them the sample questions listed in Figure 2.
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Glossary
Term Description
Applied Learning (ApL, formerly known as Career-oriented Studies)
Applied Learning (ApL, formerly known as Career-oriented Studies) is an essential component of the senior secondary curriculum. ApL uses broad professional and vocational fields as the learning platform, developing students’ foundation skills, thinking skills, people skills, values & attitudes and career-related competencies, to prepare them for further studies and / or for work as well as for lifelong learning. ApL courses complement 24 NSS subjects, diversifying the senior secondary curriculum.
Co-construction Different from the direct instruction and construction approaches to learning and teaching, the co-construction approach emphasises the class as a community of learners who contribute collectively to the creation of knowledge and the building of criteria for judging such knowledge.
Core subjects Subjects recommended for all students to take at senior secondary level: Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics and Liberal Studies.
Curriculum and Assessment (C&A) Guide
A guide prepared by the CDC-HKEAA Committee. It embraces curriculum aims / objectives / contents and learning outcomes, and assessment guidelines.
Curriculum interface Curriculum interface refers to the interface between the different key stages/educational stages of the school curriculum (including individual subjects), e.g. the interface between Kindergarten and Primary; Primary and Secondary; and Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary. The Hong Kong school curriculum, made up of eight key learning areas (under which specific subjects are categorised), provides a coherent learning framework to enhance students’ capabilities for whole-person development through engaging them in the five essential learning experiences and helping them develop the nine generic skills as well as positive values and attitudes. Thus when students move on to senior secondary education, they will already have developed the basic knowledge and skills that the study of various subjects requires. When designing the learning and teaching content and strategies, teachers should build on the knowledge and learning experiences students have gained in the previous key stages.
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Term Description
Elective subjects A total of 20 subjects in the proposed new system from which students may choose according to their interests, abilities and aptitudes.
Generic skills Generic skills are skills, abilities and attributes which are fundamental in helping students to acquire, construct and apply knowledge. They are developed through the learning and teaching that take place in different subjects or key learning areas, and are transferable to different learning situations. Nine types of generic skills are identified in the Hong Kong school curriculum, i.e. collaboration skills, communication skills, creativity, critical thinking skills, information technology skills, numeracy skills, problem solving skills, self-management skills and study skills.
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE)
The qualification to be awarded to students after completing the three-year senior secondary curriculum and taking the public assessment.
Internal assessment This refers to the assessment activities that are conducted regularly in school to assess students’ performance in learning.
Internal assessment is an inseparable part of the learning and teaching process, and it aims to make learning more effective.
With the information that internal assessment provides, teachers will be able to understand students’ progress in learning, provide them with appropriate feedback and make any adjustments to the learning objectives and teaching strategies they deem necessary.
Key Learning Area (KLA)
Organisation of the school curriculum structured around fundamental concepts of major knowledge domains. It aims at providing a broad, balanced and coherent curriculum for all students in the essential learning experiences. The Hong Kong curriculum has eight KLAs, namely, Chinese Language Education, English Language Education, Mathematics Education, Personal, Social and Humanities Education, Science Education, Technology Education, Arts Education and Physical Education.
Knowledge construction This refers to the process of learning in which learners are involved not only in acquiring new knowledge, but also in actively relating it to their prior knowledge and experience so as to create and form their own knowledge.
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Term Description
Learner diversity Learners are individuals with varied family, social, economic and cultural backgrounds and learning experience. They have different talents, personalities, intelligence and interests. Their learning abilities, interests and styles are, therefore, diverse.
Learning community A learning community refers to a group of people who have shared values and goals, and who work closely together to generate knowledge and create new ways of learning through active participation, collaboration and reflection. Such a learning community may involve not only students and teachers, but also parents and other parties in the community.
Learning differences This refers to the gaps in learning that exist in the learning process. Catering for learning differences does not mean rigidly reducing the distance between the learners in terms of progress and development but making full use of their different talents as invaluable resources to facilitate learning and teaching. To cater to learners’ varied needs and abilities, it is important that flexibility be built into the learning and teaching process to help them recognise their unique talents and to provide ample opportunities to encourage them to fulfil their potential and strive for achievement.
Learning outcomes Learning outcomes refer to what learners should be able to do by the end of a particular stage of learning. Learning outcomes are developed based on the learning targets and objectives of the curriculum for the purpose of evaluating learning effectiveness. Learning outcomes also describe the levels of performance that learners should attain after completing a particular key stage of learning and serve as a tool for promoting learning and teaching.
Level descriptors A set of written descriptions that describe what the typical candidates performing a certain level is able to do in public assessments.
Other learning experiences
For whole person development of students, ‘Other Learning Experiences’ (OLE) is one of the three components that complement the examination subjects and Applied Learning (formerly named as Career-oriented Studies) under the Senior Secondary Curriculum. It includes Moral and Civic Education, Aesthetics Development, Physical Development, Community Service and Career-related Experiences.
Public assessment The associated assessment and examination system for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.
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Term Description
SBA Moderation Mechanism
The mechanism adopted by HKEAA to adjust SBA marks submitted by schools to iron out possible differences across schools in marking standards and without affecting the rank order determined by the school.
School-based assessment (SBA)
Assessments administered in schools as part of the teaching and learning process, with students being assessed by their subject teachers. Marks awarded will count towards students’ public assessment results.
School-based curriculum Schools and teachers are encouraged to adapt the central curriculum to develop their school-based curriculum to help their students achieve the subject targets and overall aims of education. Measures may include readjusting the learning targets, varying the organisation of contents, adding optional studies and adapting learning, teaching and assessment strategies. A school-based curriculum, hence, is the outcome of a balance between official recommendations and the autonomy of the schools and teachers.
Standards-referenced Reporting
Candidates’ performance in public assessment is reported in terms of levels of performance matched against a set of standards.
Student learning profile It is to provide supplementary information on the secondary school leavers’ participation and specialties during senior secondary years, in addition to their academic performance as reported in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education, including the assessment results for Applied Learning courses, thus giving a fuller picture of the student’s whole person development.
Values & attitudes Values constitute the foundation of the attitudes and beliefs that influence one’s behaviour and way of life. They help form principles underlying human conduct and critical judgment, and are qualities that learners should develop. Some examples of values are rights and responsibilities, commitment, honesty and national identity. Closely associated with values are attitudes.
The latter supports motivation and cognitive functioning, and affects one’s way of reacting to events or situations. Since both values and attitudes significantly affect the way a student learns, they form an important part of the school curriculum.
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