Impact Study on Students' Learning of Chinese History Elements through Different Curriculum Modes at Junior Secondary Level (Revised)

With reference to Learning to Learn: Life-long Learning and Whole-Person Development (2001) and Personal, Social and Humanities Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1-Secondary 3) (2002), students in all types of local junior secondary schools will study Chinese history and culture. In general, there are three main types of curriculum modes in delivering relevant learning elements: (i) the majority of the local secondary schools are offering Chinese History as an independent separate subject at junior secondary level (“Chinese History”); (ii) a number of schools offer History and Culture that uses Chinese history as the main thread of study and incorporate world history into it via a chronological and comparative approach (“History and Culture”); and (iii) some other schools organize historically significant elements of Chinese history via a thematic approach within an integrated subject and the subject is usually entitled as Integrated Humanities (“Integrated Humanities”). The objectives of this research are: • To investigate the impact of the three curriculum modes on students’ learning of Chinese history elements at junior secondary level. • To fathom students’ self-efficacy, interest in and motivation to learn elements of Chinese history through questionnaire survey and in-depth group interviews, and test students’ basic knowledge of Chinese history elements as well as their application of related historical perspectives and methodologies. • To compare and analyse the different emphases of the three curriculum modes in terms of breadth and depth of Chinese history elements as well as the historical perspectives and methodologies being introduced, based on document analysis and interviews with responsible teachers from schools offering History and Culture or Integrated Humanities. • To assess student performance through lesson observation and analysis of their classwork, homework, test and examination performance.

Funding Source: HKSAR Govt - Education Bureau