A Qualitative Study of Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Integrated Kindergarten Programs in Hong Kong

Since 1985, the Hong Kong government has been collaborating with the selected non-profit private service providers to implement integrated kindergarten education in mainstream kindergarten programs initially designed for typically developing children. The term integrated is roughly equivalent to inclusive in the United States. This study\u27s purpose is to describe kindergarten teachers\u27 perspectives on the provision of quality integrated education for children with disabilities in Hong Kong contexts. The findings of this study offer empirical data that suggest ways to improve the quality of integrated kindergarten programs so that young children with disabilities can attain a high-quality early childhood education experience that lays a solid foundation upon which successful subsequent schooling can be built. In-depth, open-ended qualitative interviewing was the primary data collection method for this study. Four integrated kindergarten programs in Hong Kong were involved, and two kindergarten teachers from each program participated as informants. Each of the eight informants was interviewed three times; and data were analyzed using typological techniques. Two research questions guided the study: (a) How do early childhood educators describe their experience with integration? and (b) According to the teachers, what does instruction look like in integrated kindergarten programs? Findings were descriptions of teachers\u27 perspectives on working in integrated kindergartens in Hong Kong. Analysis of informants\u27 data identified two broad generalizations: (a) Kindergarten teachers in this study emphasized teaching academics to children without disabilities, but they focused on social developnlent at the exclusion of academic instruction for children with disabilities, and (b) According to the teachers, instruction was academic and skill-oriented in the integrated kindergarten programs. The results documented that kindergarten teachers felt compelled to teach academics to children without disabilities primarily due to the schools\u27 academic goals, the standardized curriculum, parents\u27 expectations for their children\u27s academic achievement, primary schools\u27 academic requirements for entering pupils, and the Hong Kong government\u27s demand for students\u27 academic competence. Contradictorily, kindergarten teachers felt no pressure to teach academics to children with disabilities due to negative teacher attitudes toward children with disabilities, resource constraints within school systems, the Hong Kong government\u27s unsupported policy toward integrated education, and an unreceptive culture toward individuals with disabilities. Kindergarten teachers in this study commented that the integrated kindergarten programs they provided did not serve the interests ofchildren with or without disabilities

Sisters in Crime: Women and illicit sexual affairs in late imperial Chinese erotic fiction

This research aims to investigate the literary representation of the female relationships and illicit sexual affairs in late imperial China erotic fiction. Focusing on the plots of touqing 偷情 (having secret sexual affairs), this research utilises five selected examples of vernacular erotic fiction composed around 1572-1730 as the main source to investigate women’s lives and social activities in illegal circumstances: Langshi 浪史 (Chronicles of the Libertine), Xiuta yeshi 繡榻野史 (Unofficial History of the Embroidered Couch), Rou putuan 肉蒲團 (The Carnal Prayer Mat), Taohua ying 桃花影 (Shadow of Peach Blossoms), and Dengcao heshang zhuan 燈草和尚傳 (Legend of the Candlewick Monk). Bonded with their own desire to be fulfilled, female participants of illicit affairs each have a specific role, function, and things to offer, forming a network comprised of these unlikely sisters in crime. To understand how such a network functions and sustains, female characters of the texts will first be grouped and analysed based on their image and common traits respective to their chief identity in the text. The discussion will then lead to an investigation of the interactions portrayed to reveal the respective role of each female type and their implications for the perceived female relationship under the exceptional circumstances of collaboration on sex crimes. The research will also compare the relationships portrayed in erotic fiction and other literature of the era, including Honglou meng and Jin Ping Mei, to illustrate the unique behaviour and network derived from the collective participation in illicit sexual affairs

Student perceptions and learning approaches of using blogs in IT education for reflection and knowledge construction

Blogging is a commonly-used tool in supporting reflection in student learning. The present research explored the possibility of using blogs as an assessment tool for promoting self-reflection and knowledge construction to the associate-degree students from four different cohorts who were taught by the researcher. Students were required to write reflective journals weekly in their blog as part of the course assessment. The primary goal of the study was to explore any evidence of the student constructing knowledge via the blogging exercises and evaluate the blogging technology in promoting in-depth self-reflection. The research adopted a mixed research method which combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study included a questionnaire which is composed of two previously developed questionnaires, the Reflection Questionnaire (RQ) (Kember, 2000) and the Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) (Biggs et al., 2001) for exploring the relationships between students’ perceptions of blogging and their learning approaches and their level of reflective thinking. The results would then triangulate with the findings of content analysis of blog posts and student interviews. The study showed that deep approach scores and scores of reflective thinking scales have been found as a significant contribution to the explanation of the portfolio and total course marks. It also showed that there is strong relationship between the learning approach and the students’ habit of reflective thinking. By comparing the pre-teaching with post-teaching scores, it is found that a positive change in the total scores of deep approach in particular in deep strategy subscale and a positive change in the total scores of higher levels of reflective thinking (reflection and critical reflection). Furthermore, the results showed that a negative change in the total scores of the lowest level of reflective thinking – habitual action. These implied that blogging may motivate students to learn deeper and drive them to think reflectively

Risk culture of late modernity? : Mass tutoring enrolment of Hong Kong\u27s senior secondary students

Mass tutoring on senior secondary curricula, with specific focus on examination syllabi and techniques, has expanded rapidly in Hong Kong in the recent decade. Through semi-structured in-depth interviews, conducted in summer 2007, with 20 certificate level (Secondary 4 and 5) and 21 advanced level (Secondary 6 and 7) students with various level of involvement in mass tutoring, this study discovered: (1) Risk awareness and future-oriented mentality: Students expected that mass tutoring could help improve their performance in public examinations, and could secure good grades. To them, better grades mean higher chance to get a recognized qualification, fulfil their career aspiration, and secure a better life in the uncertain future. (2) Individualization of decisions and choices: Students thought that they should be responsible and accountable for their own life-choices. The decision to enrol in mass tutoring was made on their own. When they needed advice on choices of tutors, they referred to the opinions from the schoolmates with similar learning experience and academic performance as themselves. In order to locate the most suitable tutors, some students even collected various tutors’ lecture notes or recordings for comparison, or attended free-of-charge trial lessons before finalizing their choices. (3) Individual reflexivity and conditional trust on authority: In terms of enhancement of academic performance, a number of students trusted cram school tutors more than daytime school teachers, as they thought the former more familiar with the examination requirement than the latter. Nevertheless, they did not completely trust their tutors. They evaluated from time to time the effectiveness and suitability of the tutorials they were attending, and discontinued and made changes if necessary. (4) Detraditionalization of schooling values: Students viewed senior secondary education different from more idealistic lifelong learning. In their eyes, getting good grades and preparing for good prospect in further studies and career are of utmost importance in senior secondary schooling. Some of them even preferred daytime school teachers to adopt cram school tutors’ approach. With the above findings, the study argues that the microscopic phenomenon of blossoming mass tutoring enrolment is a reflection of the macroscopic risk culture of late modernity, which has been addressed by Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. The study unfolds several specific qualities of individual life and social environment in the post-industrial era. To deal with the uncertain social environment, individuals prefer adapting to the existing social order rather than imposing changes to the external social environment. Appreciated traditional values not conforming to the modern social order will only be practised only after an individual has achieved ontological security in the highly modernized social environment. Individuals are locked in a cage where they had to endlessly appeal to uncertain measures to deal with the uncertainties embedded in daily life. This study also reveals the unbalanced power between individuals and social structure in the structuration process, and the disparity in power of risk negotiation due to wealth difference in the highly modernized environment, which were under-examined by the proponents of the late modernity paradigm

In search of Lin Zhao\u27s soul = 尋找林昭的靈魂

Film Director: Hu Jie (胡杰) Film Release Year: 2004https://commons.ln.edu.hk/ccs_worksheet/1001/thumbnail.jp

Angular distributions of the polarized photons and electron in the decays of the 3D3^3D_3 state of charmonium

We calculate the combined angular distribution functions of the polarized photons ($\gamma_1$ and $\gamma_2$) and electron ($e^-$) produced in the cascade process $\bar{p}p\rightarrow$ $^3D_3\rightarrow$ $^3P_2+\gamma_1\rightarrow$ $(\psi+\gamma_2)+\gamma_1\rightarrow(e^++e^-)+\gamma_1+\gamma_2$, when the colliding $\bar{p}$ and $p$ are unpolarized. Our results are independent of any dynamical models and are expressed in terms of the spherical harmonics whose coefficients are functions of the angular-momentum helicity amplitudes of the individual processes. Once the joint angular distribution of ($\gamma_1$, $\gamma_2$) and that of ($\gamma_2$, $e^-$) with the polarization of either one of the two particles are measured, our results will enable one to determine the relative magnitudes as well as the relative phases of all the angular-momentum helicity amplitudes in the radiative decay processes $^3D_3\rightarrow$ $^3P_2+\gamma_1$ and $^3P_2\rightarrow\psi+\gamma_2$

Angular distributions in the radiative decays of the 3D3^3D_3 state of charmonium originating from polarized pˉp\bar{p}p collisions

Using the helicity formalism, we calculate the combined angular distribution function of the two gamma photons ($\gamma_1$ and $\gamma_2$) and the electron ($e^-$) in the triple cascade process $\bar{p}p\rightarrow{}^3D_3\rightarrow{}^3P_2+\gamma_1\rightarrow(\psi+\gamma_2) +\gamma_1 \rightarrow (e^- + e^+) +\gamma_2 +\gamma_1$, when $\bar{p}$ and $p$ are arbitrarily polarized. We also derive six different partially integrated angular distribution functions which give the angular distributions of one or two particles in the final state. Our results show that by measuring the two-particle angular distribution of $\gamma_1$ and $\gamma_2$ and that of $\gamma_2$ and $e^-$, one can determine the relative magnitudes as well as the relative phases of all the helicity amplitudes in the two charmonium radiative transitions ${}^3D_3\rightarrow{}^3P_2+\gamma_1$ and $^3P_2\rightarrow \psi+\gamma_2$.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1311.464