On the afternoon of February 24, 2025, the opening ceremony of the 2nd Hong Kong STEAM Education Leaders Exchange and Training Program was successfully held at the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre (TEC). Co-hosted by the Education Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Hong Kong Education Bureau) and TEC, the ceremony was attended by Ms. Hung Lai-ting, Chief Curriculum Development Officer (Primary School-based Curriculum Development) of the Hong Kong Education Bureau; Mr. Tse Pan-lun, Senior Curriculum Development Officer (Science); Mr. Tong Wai-ming, Curriculum Development Officer (Science); Professor Hu Guoyong, Deputy Director of TEC; Professor Wang Jie, Deputy Director of the International Teacher Education Centre at Shanghai Normal University; and 32 primary and secondary school principals and teachers from Hong Kong. The ceremony was chaired by Professor Wang Jie.
Professor Hu Guoyong, Deputy Director of TEC, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He first extended a warm welcome to the Hong Kong STEAM study delegation, noting that the program aims to build a bridge for Hong Kong teachers to engage in in-depth exchanges with Shanghai’s STEAM education experts and frontline teachers, so as to work hand in hand to jointly promote the development of STEAM education in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Through on-site visits to primary and secondary school classrooms in Shanghai, he hoped that participating Hong Kong teachers would gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the real situation and experiences of Shanghai in STEAM education practice. Finally, Professor Hu sincerely wished every participant a fruitful week of study, with ample gains.
In her subsequent speech, Ms. Hung Lai-ting, Chief School Development Officer of the Hong Kong Education Bureau, stated that she felt honored to participate in this program in Shanghai, regarding it as an extremely valuable learning opportunity. On behalf of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, she expressed sincere gratitude to the organizers and extended a warm welcome to the representatives from various Hong Kong schools who had traveled to attend the program. Ms. Hung emphasized that this training and exchange activity provides a precious platform for in-depth exploration of advanced concepts and practices in STEAM education in the country, especially in Shanghai. She encouraged all participating school representatives and teachers to seize this rare opportunity, actively exchange insights, and jointly explore how to more effectively integrate various resources, with a focus on cultivating students’ STEAM literacy, translating theoretical learning into practical actions, thereby vigorously promoting the vigorous development of Hong Kong’s STEAM education.
Following the successful conclusion of the opening ceremony, Mr. Zhou Zhihua, founder of OUR SCHOOL Digital Campus, delivered an engaging keynote lecture titled Integration of AI and STEM Education. Mr. Zhou expressed his hope that AI education could bring tangible positive changes to schools, students, and teachers. In the lecture, he demonstrated the our teacher AI platform and delved into how to build ideal scenarios with AI capabilities to smoothly integrate AI science into schools and classrooms. The goal is to stimulate students’ strong interest in science education while improving teachers’ teaching and office efficiency. Highlighting the urgent need to build a new STEAM curriculum system deeply integrated with AI, Mr. Zhou pointed out that as the core scenario of educational practice, the curriculum should closely integrate AI learning and application with solving real-world problems, thereby enhancing students’ ability to address practical issues and deepening their understanding and mastery of knowledge. This concept not only points out the direction for the application of AI technology in education but also injects new vitality and impetus into the development of STEAM education.
This five-day program features rich and varied content, including in-depth attendance at expert lectures, on-site visits to multiple primary and secondary schools in Shanghai, and tours of local science popularization and cultural venues. In addition, several seminars will be held to build a bridge for program participants to engage in in-depth dialogue with national curriculum leaders and senior education experts. This series of carefully designed activities aims to comprehensively and multi-dimensionally enhance the capabilities and broaden the horizons of Hong Kong’s primary and secondary school STEAM education leaders, contributing to promoting educational cooperation and exchanges between the two regions and jointly exploring new paths for STEAM education.
(Photos/Contributions provided by: UNESCO Teacher Education Centre)
