The Wonderful World of LS

CK Cheung, Faculty of Education, HKU

Warm up exercise 1

• Raise 1 question you have about Liberal Studies

• What comes to you mind when I say LS?

• + - 0

Understanding the generation today

• From observing to constructing (blog); the issue of privacy

• From a ready-made world to constructing a world (RPG, Youtube)

• From learning to ‘playing’, entertainment – edutainment – infotainment

• From kid to adult to kidult • From papermedia to hypermedia to virtual media• From outsiders to networkers (networked individualism)• From children to child• From no choice to plenty• The ‘ME’, ‘THUMB’ generation• The age of narcissism

Solution

• From globalization to glocalization (connection and contextualization)

• From moral panic to critical thinking• From instancy (popular culture) to constancy (val

ues)• From information to formation to transformation• From passive reception to active reflection (parti

cipatory culture and ownership)• Paradigm shift: teaching - learning, learning – te

aching, production – learning – teaching• From education to leadership training

Questions

• What are the challenges ahead?

• What will become obsolete?

• What is the world like now and what will it be like 20 years down the road? (a story about a P.5 girl writing composition)

• How shall we then act?

3 essential skills

• Observation (known)

• Questioning (yet to be known)

• Imagination (unknown)

What is learning?

• It is the acquisition and retention of what’s been learnt after the initial exposure has been terminated.

• Suchman’s theory: its the interaction between encounters and organizers

• Development of inquiry: look at rubbish and find the answer

Why LS ?

• A changing world of young people in HK• Political change• Social change : wealth, autonomy• Globalization: interconnected world, multi-

cultural and multi-perspective, universal consumerist culture, homogenization and yet fragmentation

• A need to be questioning and analytical in the face of change, new forces and increasing complexity

Can LS save HK?

• How is knowledge acquired?• Is foundation knowledge needed?• Who wrote the curriculum guide? Will it be

too visionary to know what is significant to students, society, and the world?

• If LS is so good, why didn’t schools implement it when it was lst introduced in the 90s

• GS-Junior LS-Life and Society

The meanings of “liberal”

• concerned with being open-minded, unprejudiced, free from pedantry (賣弄學問、迂腐 )

• being free and freed from narrow views;

• being willing to understand, accept and respect the ideas, opinions, feelings and actions of others which are different from one's own

• willing to understand and respect the ideas and feelings of others;

• favouring some change…

• favouring a wide general knowledge, the broadening of the mind and wide possibilities for self-expression

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

What is Liberal Education?

Education that enlarges and disciplines the mind and makes it master of its own powers, irrespective of the particular business or profession one may follow.

Webster Dictionary

Curriculum aims

(a) to enable students to develop multiple perspectives on perennial and contemporary issues in different contexts (e.g. cultural, social, economic, political and technological contexts);

(b) to enhance students’ understanding of themselves, their society, their nation, the human world and the physical environment;

(c) to help students become independent thinkers so that they can construct knowledge appropriate to changing personal and social circumstances;

(d) to develop in students a range of skills for life-long learning, including critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving skills, communication skills and information technology skills;

(e) to help students appreciate and respect diversity in cultures and views in a pluralistic society and handle conflicting values; and

(f) to help students develop positive values and attitude towards life, so that they can become informed and responsible citizens of society, the country and the world (CDC and HKEAA 2007: 5).

What can LS do?

• discussion-, question, and action-centered • build on the existing knowledge and experience of stude

nts• help them understand the social forces controlling their li

ves • civic responsibility and human emancipation• liberating, empower students and lead to social change• raise social consciousness, instill political awareness • “to liberate themselves…to develop a critical attitude…w

hich allows them to think, to question,…to begin to re-evaluate themselves

• learning to think, to inquire, and to take action• not impose any political doctrine