Blended learning for building student-teachers’ capacity to learn and teach science-related interdisciplinary subjects: A UGC T&L project

This project aims to develop a new set of foundation science modules to be shared among three institutions: HKIEd, CUHK and HKU. The modules will equip student teachers who lack foundational knowledge in science with the knowledge that they need to benefit fully from courses in the teacher education programmes of these institutions. The project addresses the problems that the three institutions have encountered when training non-science students to be teachers of science-related interdisciplinary school subjects. These modules will be designed for integration into existing courses and delivered in a flexible way to meet the requirements of individual courses. The pedagogical design of these modules is based on a blended learning mode that combines the advantages of e-learning and face-to-face contact. The e-learning or online-learning components are to be delivered through a Learning Management System (LMS) such as Moodle. This learning environment allows for self-pacing under the guidance of the course tutor. Students can work toward progressive goals by building on their own background knowledge. This project, the first of its kind, involves inter-institutional collaboration in designing, piloting and evaluating the modules delivered through blended learning to meet the common needs of the education faculties. It will contribute to the capacity of science education faculties to design and implement creative and innovative curriculum and pedagogy to address issues in science teacher education.