Journal Articles

Engineering design that requires mathematical analysis, scientific understanding, and technology is critical for preparing students for solving engineering problems. In simulated design environments, students are expected to learn about science and engineering through their design. However, there is a lack of understanding concerning linking science concepts with design problems to design artifacts. This study investigated how 99 high school students applied science concepts to solarize their school using a computer-aided engineering design software, aiming to explore the interaction between students’ science concepts and engineering design behaviors. Students were assigned to three groups based on their design performance: the achieving group, proficient group, and emerging group. By mining log activities, we explored the interactions among students’ application of science concepts, engineering design behaviors, design iterations, and their design performance. We found that the achieving group has a statistically higher number of design iterations than the other two performance groups. We also identified distinctive transition patterns in students’ applying science concepts and exercising design behaviors among three groups. The implications of this study are then discussed.

Prior research has focused on students’ affectional states during learning, recognizing that affect can elevate learning and cognitive development. This study hypothesized and investigated the bidirectionality or reciprocity of the relationships between students’ affects and performance in reading comprehension. Mixed methods were used in the study. 41 3rd grade (9-year-old) students went through mind mapping in reading intervention for one semester. Pre- and post-intervention surveys and post-interviews were conducted to investigate their affectional and self-efficacy levels in reading comprehension. Their mind maps were also collected to evaluate their performance in reading comprehension. The study results revealed that the use of mind mapping in reading activities led to a widespread sense of positive affect. Furthermore, positive affect was found to be influenced by reading comprehension, and reading comprehension could contribute to changes in affect by enhancing reading performance and increasing self-efficacy. This study elevates the understanding of the mind mapping in reading strategies, provides references for the affectional design of such activities, and derives design and enactment principles to transform mind mapping in reading activities.

Contemporary forces of deglobalisation and neo-tribalism have renewed questions about the public role of the humanities. In this essay, I draw on Edward Said’s reflections of secular criticism and observe how his problematisations of traditional practices of criticism provide a foundational basis for post-critical criticism. Specifically, post-critical criticism is undergirded by an open meta-narrative of cosmopolitan humanism, an inherently porous concept that Said envisioned could counter the closed meta-narratives of religion and nationalism. In practice, post-critical criticism disrupts traditional, authoritative criticism that masks inherited methodologies and conveys the critic as a prophet of enlightenment. More importantly, it pushes beyond the limits of hermeneutical interpretation towards an ethics of visioning and vision-making thus becoming a more productive force for humanity.

Multimodal literacy has been increasingly included as part of the language and literacy curriculum in many education systems across the world. In the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China (Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau), multimodal literacy has recently been incorporated into the curriculum guides to varying degrees. Little research has attended to how teachers understand multimodal literacy and how they react to the curriculum initiatives. Through examining the national and regional curriculum documents and conducting individual in-depth interviews with 15 purposively sampled secondary school English language teachers in the GBA, this study explores teachers’ beliefs about teaching multimodal literacy and the factors influencing their beliefs. The findings revealed that while the teachers recognized the importance of multimodal literacy in language education, they expressed mixed understandings of multimodal literacy and articulated diverse perspectives on how to teach it across the three regions. The teachers’ beliefs were found to be mediated by various factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The findings provide important implications for curriculum reforms and professional development for multimodal literacy education. This study argues for the importance of clarifying curriculum expectations for multimodal literacy and developing contextually sensitive and responsive approaches to meet teachers’ and students’ needs. It also highlights the cruciality of considering teachers’ beliefs in professional development programmes for multimodal literacy. Focusing on the GBA of China, where regions are just beginning to integrate multimodal literacy into the curriculum, this study builds on earlier research on multimodal literacy in other areas of Asia and discusses its findings in relation to these studies. Collectively, these studies, while situated in Asia, contribute to the ongoing global interest and advancement of multiliteracies education.