‘Talking’ Science through Group Work in Hong Kong Secondary Classrooms: The Teachers’ Role in Facilitating Students’ Acquisition of Conceptual Knowledge

Abstract

Although investigations into group work began in the last century, and general conclusions have been reached about its positive implications for Western classrooms, little attention has been paid to the pedagogical differences between whole-class teaching and group work in schools in Hong Kong. To address this issue, this study first examines the empirical evidence related to the emergence of group work in Western countries (i.e. US and UK), before turning its attention to the practical significance of peer collaboration in students’ learning of science. Based on the data collected from a qualitative study conducted in two primary schools in Hong Kong, the effects of group work on students’ joint construction of conceptual knowledge are discussed. The findings illustrate that group work was more effective than whole-class instruction in creating an interactive atmosphere in classrooms, whereby students became more eager to share their ideas and thus achieved a better understanding of abstract scientific concepts.