ENG-1980 — Page 116

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EDUCATION

Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic – organised a number of in-service courses during the year. The courses covered such areas as programming techniques and the effective use of electronic calculators and microcomputers in classrooms.

The Science Teaching Centre encouraged the construction of simple apparatus in science teaching by holding 11 workshops for 300 secondary science teachers and laboratory technicians; additionally, 19 courses, workshops, seminars and meetings were held for 1,000 primary school heads and teachers. Displays of resource materials for teaching physics, chemistry, biology, integrated science and primary science attracted hundreds of interested teachers to the centre throughout the year.

The Social Subjects Teaching Centre provides in-service training for teachers of history, economics, economic and public affairs, geography, health education and social studies. In 1980, more than 500 secondary school teachers attended courses provided by the centre, which has a variety of reference and teaching materials on display. It is planned to further develop these resources. In particular, reading facilities will be strengthened to assist teachers of social studies in Forms 4 to 5.

Visual Education Centre

The Visual Education Centre continues to make available a wide range of audio-visual aids for use in schools. Its stocks include 16 mm films, filmstrips, slides, audio-cassette tapes, overhead transparencies, video tapes, learning packages and picture sets. Instructional hardware, such as projection equipment and sound recorders, is also available for loan to schools.

Audio-visual techniques were demonstrated at nine in-service teacher training pro- grammes and 16 follow-up workshops during the year. These were attended by some 3,200 teachers. A series of seminars for 145 secondary school audio-visual co-ordinators provided further opportunities for sharing experiences and exchanging ideas. Teachers also made full use of the facilities of the Media Production Services Unit throughout the year.

Cultural Crafts Centre

The Cultural Crafts Centre of the Education Department has well-equipped workshops and provides opportunities for teachers from both primary and secondary schools to improve their teaching skills in art and design, craft and home economics. It organises in-service courses, workshops and seminars and in 1980 these were attended by some 2,000 teachers. Exhibitions of pupils' work arranged at the centre were very well attended.

The Art Section gave advice and assistance to local organisations and schools in arranging competitions and exhibitions. It also organised the selection of local entries for students' art exhibitions and competitions in the United Kingdom, Korea, Finland and Japan. In July, the Young Artists of the Commonwealth Exhibition became the first international youth art exhibition to be held in Hong Kong. Presented jointly by the Art Section and the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the exhibition was originally organised and sponsored by the Commonwealth Institute, London, and before coming to Hong Kong the exhibits were on display in London and Edinburgh. Of the 154 paintings in the exhibition, 31 were by Hong Kong students.

The Home Economics Section arranged 16 in-service courses and two seminars during the year and work commenced on a second series of standardised Chinese recipes for secondary schools. When completed, the recipes will be on sales at the Government Publications Centre.