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ENVISIONING INNOVATION IN EDUCATION – HONG KONG:

Experiments in Teaching and Learning

by Edward P. Clapp, Lindsey Hicks, Devon Wilson

What does innovation in education look like? 

How does innovation in education take shape differently across a variety of teaching and learning environments? 

What is the relationship between inquiry and innovation? 

What might it mean to lead for innovation?

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Based on the work of a cohort of educators and school leaders representing a diverse array of teaching and learning environments, Envisioning Innovation in Education – Hong Kong: Experiments in Teaching and Learning explores these questions by offering a window into the process of inquiry-driven innovation within the context of the Hong Kong educational landscape. 

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Grounded in the work of the Envisioning Innovation in Education project, a multi-year collaborative inquiry conducted by Project Zero — a research center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the United States—and funded by the CATALYST Education Lab in Hong Kong, this comprehensive guide for educators and school leaders includes in-depth pictures of practice that highlight school-based inquiry and innovation projects, lessons learned along the way, and a host of teacher-tested tools and resources designed to support the process of envisioning and inquiring about innovation. 


Whether in Hong Kong, Havana, or Houston, Envisioning Innovation in Education – Hong Kong is sure to offer tools, strategies, and resources that will be immediately applicable to educators and school leaders interested in the process of positive change for themselves, their colleagues, and their students.

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Navigating the Book

Navigating the Book

Acknowledgements

Foreword—by Jennifer Ho and Angele Law

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This chapter includes the reflections on the project from Jennifer Ho and Angele Law, the leaders of CATALYST Education Lab (CEL). (CEL is the funder and initiator of the project.)

Chapter 1: Introduction

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This chapter introduces readers to the Hong Kong educational landscape, how this project came to be, the people behind the project, who should read this book, and how to use this book.

Chapter 2: Arc of Experience

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This chapter includes an overview of the three active years of the EIE project, with a rationale for why the project is structured in this way.

Chapter 3: Meet the Cohort

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This chapter introduces you to the educators and administrators involved during the active years of the EIE project.

Chapter 4: Pictures of Practice

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This chapter includes case studies of educators engaged in the work of the project. Readers will get to know how these educators dived into the process of inquiry-driven innovation within their specific teaching and learning environments.

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Four themes that emerged based on the EIE participants’ inquiries are:

A. Student and Teacher Agency

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Many EIE innovation projects prioritized the promotion of student agency within classrooms. Alongside this, the development of teacher agency also supported innovation as they determined the focus and approach for inquiry and innovation.

B. Documentation

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Documentation is the practice of observing, recording, interpreting and sharing artifacts of learning. It is an inquiry strategy that effectively supported many EIE educators’ cycles of inquiry and helped them deepen student learning across subjects.

C. Whimsy and Play

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Whimsical and playful instructional approaches created favorable conditions for learning and innovation for many EIE participants, both in classrooms and professional development experiences.

D. Effective In-School Professional Development

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Many EIE educators recognized the value of the tools and strategies utilized in the project to support and sustain effective in-school professional development.

Chapter 5: Leading for Innovation

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This chapter summarises how the EIE project engaged with a team of principals with the question, “what does it mean to lead for innovation?”

Chapter 6: Lessons Learned and Looking Forward

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This chapter includes a reflection of the authors on lessons that they have learned from the EIE participants, with a special focus on mindset shifts. It also includes where the work of the EIE project is headed in Hong Kong, as well as offers the authors’ own take on what’s possible in the years to come in Hong Kong and beyond.

Chapter 7: Afterword—by Queenie Hon and David Ng

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In this chapter, Hong Kong Project Coordinators, Queenie Hon and David Ng, share their reflections on the project and their visions for taking the work forward.

Chapter 8: The Envisioning Innovation in Education Toolkit: Frameworks, Tools, and Resources

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This collection of frameworks, tools, and resources is meant to offer educators easy access to the variety of pedagogical tools and strategies that either structured the project, were invented during the project, or were borrowed from other places to support the work of the project.

Should you have any enquiries, 

please contact us via  eie@celhk.org.

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