Reflection on previous year:

• Tim himself initially had little understanding of knowledge building, which was limited to primary goals such as instilling better work ethic and sense of task understanding in students. While he thought that teachers should “guide” (as their instincts lead to learning outcomes) and students should “act” accordingly, he also believed that students should be given an exploration period for the purpose of independent trial and error, yet how long should this period last before a teacher intervenes? Additionally, as a language teacher, Tim was unsure whether his focus should be on facilitating the deepening of class discussion or to improve the students’ language proficiency.
  

Highlights of design:

• Less teacher intervention
• Students attempted collection of primary information by interviewing guests
• International collaboration on Knowledge Forum

Learning outcomes:

• Students learned how to obtain first-hand data through interviews, rather than only relying on the Internet as an information source
• Students had better focus and awareness of what they were doing in their work
• Some of those who initially were not active participants of class discussion demonstrated improvement as they gradually became more outspoken and attentive toward others’ opinions
  
  

Some remaining concerns included the fact that some students were inactive in class, which hindered their progress, as knowledge building is meant to be a collaborative activity requiring maximum participation. Furthermore, students were occasionally unsure what they were doing, not very focussed on their tasks, and mostly dependent on Internet resources. In order to address these issues, Tim made some amendments to his pedagogical design for Year 2, which included a module entitled “Hong Kong Kids”. The module focussed on how Hong Kong culture and attitudes affect local children in terms of independence and life skills.