Introduction
Edmond Hau-Fai Law and Ushio Miura
The question of what and how students should learn has been occupying a
central place in debates on education in many countries in the Asia-Pacific
region (UNESCO, 2014). In response to these debates, countries in the region
are increasingly introducing various policy changes and curricula reforms.
Such reforms recognize that existing curricula are not suitable for the needs
of learners in the twenty-first century, and seek to introduce learning that will
prepare people of the region to live peacefully and sustainably in a rapidly
changing world (UNESCO, 2015).
Similar reforms have been seen elsewhere in the world. This worldwide
trend began in the 1960s, focusing on curriculum renewal and pedagogical
innovations in teaching and learning initially (Hargreaves, 2009; Laferriere, Law
and Montané, 2012; Law, 2014). These changes in pedagogical practices have
their traditions in Dewey and Piaget’s progressive approaches to organizing
learning activities. In these approaches, learners are placed at the centre of the
process of learning, and learners, not teachers, are in control of the learning
process. Learners are also seen as the producers of knowledge. Knowledge
is understood not as a set of fixed and static information to be transmitted
from one to another, but as the accumulation of reflective experiences that
take place as learners interact with the world around them. With such an
approach, learners are understood to construct and gain knowledge as
they go through learning tasks and solve practical and social problems in
daily life. For example, in the process of working in teams, learners become
autonomous individuals with social awareness and a sense of responsibility.
Reforms in curricula and in pedagogical practices have broadened in scope
and magnitude in recent decades by integrating social dimension into the
teaching of science, mathematics and technology (Olson et al., 1999). In
addition, pedagogical innovations have been explored using information and
communication technology at the school level (Harris, 2002; Janicki and Liegle,
2001; Martinez-Garcia et al., 2012; Hargis, 2001; Mioduser et al., 2003; Wu et al.,
2008; Law, 2006). Reforms of pedagogy have also been driven by theories of
progressivism and human learning and development, such as socio-cultural
models of human learning, as well as by theories about pedagogical content