Derek Cheung

Developing a Scale to Measure Students’ Attitudes toward Chemistry Lessons

Students’ attitudes toward chemistry lessons in school are important dependent variables in curriculum evaluation. Although a variety of instruments have been developed by researchers to evaluate student attitudes, they are plagued with problems such as the lack of theoretical rationale and of empirical evidence to support the construct validity of data. This paper describes a study of students’ attitudes toward chemistry lessons in Hong Kong secondary schools. One of the scales in the Test of Science‐Related Attitudes developed by Fraser was modified to form an Attitude Toward Chemistry Lessons Scale (ATCLS). The construction of the ATCLS was based on a theoretical model with four dimensions: liking for chemistry theory lessons, liking for chemistry laboratory work, evaluative beliefs about school chemistry, and behavioural tendencies to learn chemistry. The arguments for inclusion of these four dimensions are presented. The final version of ATCLS was administered to 954 students. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that there was a good fit between the hypothesised model and the observed data.

Teachers' concerns on school-based assessment of practical work

The Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) is a form of school-based assessment that has recently replaced the external practical examination in AL Biology of Hong Kong. This study aimed at understanding the problems encountered by teachers in implementing this innovation. Over 300 teachers expressed their concern about different aspects of the TAS in a questionnaire of 25 items and two open-ended questions. The responses showed that the teachers were deeply concerned about the lack of resource materials and training, as well as the heavy workload involved in designing and assessing practical activities for their students. Other key concerns included the impact of the scheme on student learning, the fairness of school-based assessment, and the need for a critical review on the implementation of the scheme. However, the teachers had a relatively low level of concern on their role in revising or improving the scheme. This paper also considers whether the levels of concern in different areas might change as the teachers gain experience in TAS.

Enacting teacher leadership The role of teachers in bringing about change

This paper attempts to identify leadership practices and qualities of school teachers as they engaged in effecting change initiated by a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of teachers from nine schools, this paper shows how teacher leadership manifested itself in schools. Three approaches to teacher leadership were identified, each delineating how teacher leaders approached the implementation task – as a compliance exercise, an adaptive exercise, or as a capacity building exercise. This paper confirms that different levels of teacher–leader engagement in professional enquiries constitute different teacher leadership practices, which have differential impacts on teaching and learning practices and the effectiveness of school improvement efforts. Implications for developing teacher leadership in schools are discussed.

Implementing a new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong: instructional leadership practices and qualities of school principals

This paper attempts to identify the leadership practices and qualities of school principals engaged in implementing a curriculum reform in Hong Kong. Based on interview data of school principals, this paper shows that the types of instructional leadership practices that school principals adopt and the contextual conditions in which these practices occur are key factors explaining the differential effectiveness of implementation efforts. Six efficacious instructional leadership practices and two contextual conditions critical to their development were identified. This paper reconceptualises instructional leadership as a collective and transformational endeavour, functioning in communities of practice to support school development at different levels.

PinX1 is involved in telomerase recruitment and regulates telomerase function by mediating its localization

Telomerase recruitment to telomere is the prerequisite for telomere extension, but the proteins involved in this process are still largely unknown. PinX1 is a telomerase inhibitor and has been implicated in telomere maintenance. Silencing of PinX1 significantly reduced the localization of telomerase to telomere during mid‐late S phase, suggesting the involvement of PinX1 in the cell cycle‐dependent trafficking of hTERT to telomere. We also revealed that PinX1 mediated the chromosomal localization of hTERT during anaphase. This study revealed the role of PinX1 in telomerase function regulation by mediating its localization inside cells.

Secondary School Students’ Chemistry Self-Efficacy: Its Importance, Measurement, and Sources

Self-efficacy for learning chemistry refers to one’s beliefs about his or her ability to successfully perform specific tasks in chemistry. For students to be successful in school chemistry, they need to have a positive sense of self-efficacy. Research has repeatedly indicated that individual students’ levels of self-efficacy affect the effort they spend on an activity, the persistence they put forth when confronting obstacles, the resilience they show in the face of adverse situations, the level of academic achievement they attain, and the enrolment choices they make. Students construct their self-efficacy beliefs from four major sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and physiological and emotional states. Although chemistry education researchers have developed several questionnaires to measure students’ perceived self-efficacy, most of them are not specific enough to measure chemistry self-efficacy. Researchers have paid even less attention to investigating how classroom chemistry teaching contributes to the development of students’ chemistry self-efficacy. This chapter provides an extensive review of the literature on chemistry self-efficacy, reports recent research on chemistry self-efficacy conducted in Hong Kong secondary schools, and offers some directions for future research on chemistry self-efficacy.

The key factors affecting students’ individual interest in school science lessons

ABSTRACT Individual interest in school science lessons can be defined as a relatively stable and enduring personal emotion comprising affective and behavioural reactions to events in the regular science lessons at school. Little research has compared the importance of different factors affecting students’ individual interest in school science lessons. The present study aimed to address this gap, using a mixed methods design. Qualitative interview data were collected from 60 Hong Kong junior secondary school students, who were asked to describe the nature of their interest in science lessons and the factors to which they attribute this. Teacher interviews, parent interviews, and classroom observations were conducted to triangulate student interview data. Five factors affecting students’ individual interest in school science lessons were identified: situational influences in science lessons, individual interest in science, science self-concept, grade level, and gender. Quantitative data were then collected from 591 students using a questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was applied to test a hypothesised model, which provided an acceptable fit to the student data. The strongest factor affecting students’ individual interest in school science lessons was science self-concept, followed by individual interest in science and situational influences in science lessons. Grade level and gender were found to be nonsignificant factors. These findings suggest that teachers should pay special attention to the association between academic self-concept and interest if they want to motivate students to learn science at school.

Reflections from International Scholars

This chapter is to present some reflections from international scholars who have been visiting Taiwan for the past few years. These scholars would like to share their insightful feedback of their interactions with scholars, teachers, and students during their stay in Taiwan.

School-Based Assessment of Science Students’ Practical Skills in Hong Kong

Practical work is an important component of school science. However, over the past four decades there has been considerable debate about how assessment of science students’ practical skills should be conducted as part of the public examination. In 1978, coursework assessment of practical skills was introduced to the Hong Kong Advanced Level chemistry examination and then extended to biology and physics examinations in 1995 and 2002, respectively. Recently, new chemistry, biology, and physics curricula for Hong Kong Secondary 4–6 students (aged about 16–18) were implemented in 2009 and a revised coursework assessment scheme called School-Based Assessment (SBA) was launched. To date, few published studies have investigated secondary school students’ beliefs about SBA of science practical skills. This chapter reports on a study involving Hong Kong Secondary 6 chemistry students. Focus group interviews were organized for 36 students and a questionnaire was administered to 306 students drawn from ten schools. Both the interviews and questionnaire survey revealed that most students were skeptical about the worth of SBA and their beliefs about the value of SBA were affected by three major factors: the validity of SBA, formative functions of SBA, and effects of SBA on student motivation to learn chemistry. Multiple regression analysis of the questionnaire data indicated that the most powerful predictor of student beliefs about the value of SBA is the formative functions of SBA, followed by the effects of SBA on student motivation. The implications of these findings for implementation of SBA in school are discussed.