Combining studying with playing is one of the best ways to let a kid grow. Coolplay, a project launched by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, aims to encourage children to learn through playful and exploratory activities.
Launched in 2020, the program has completed its first phase, teaching over 2,300 students in 20 kindergartens.
The initiative has trained 132 teachers and published 25 sets of award-winning learning kits.
Training courses and learning material kits enable educators to design exploratory games for children, creating an immersive learning process with hands-on experience and sensory stimuli.
Early last month, it announced the start of the program's second four-year phase from 2024 to 2027. The second phase will be coorganized by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education and Hong Kong Christian Service.
Brad Chan Yu-Wing, co-director of the Coolplay Project and assistant professor at YCCECE, said: "Early childhood education is the first step of nurturing young generations. Through the project we hope to encourage children to explore, show imagination and develop their interests and attitude, rather than rote learning."
At NTW & JWA Yuen Long Nursery School, one of the most successful Coolplay programs in the past three years has been the Happy Friday event series.
Principal Winnie Kong Wing-yi shared their experience of the first phase of the project.
"Every Friday, we would plan different kinds of playful activities for the children to participate in. For example, they could be on the rooftop to do some drawing with water or play with different colors of flashlight," she said. "After the activities, the teachers would encourage the children to raise questions they have during the process and guide them to find out the answer."
Olivia Lam, a student at NTW & JWA Yuen Long Nursery School, said her favorite event was the one where they made toys with recyclable material. "I tried to make toy cars and was very proud of the results," she said.
For the second phase, the project will continue to adhere to its child-centered approach and focus on seven grassroots communities including Kwun Tong, Kwai Tsing, Wong Tai Sin, North District, Sham Shui Po, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long.
It aims to cover more than 50,000 children in over 400 kindergartens, with training plans for about 2,400 teachers.
With the new scheme, the program would cover over half of the free kindergartens in Hong Kong.
The second phase will also see an upgrade to the Jumpstarter learning material kit, which has gained widespread approval and won the Gold Award in the 2023 International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada.
The original Jumpstarter kit contained a bilingual children's storybook, a guide for teachers and a guide for parents. In the second phase a variety of materials kits will be added, enabling children to engage in the exploratory learning process with materials at hand.
An online version of the kits will also be introduced in stages, which would provide more personalized exploratory resources for teachers and parents to use.
In addition to the learning material kit, the program will also provide tailor-made training courses for teachers based on the specific needs and challenges in each school.
With such resources and support it is hoped that teachers integrate exploratory learning into their everyday teaching process.
"By inspiring children's interest in exploration and developing their tenacity in learning, it helps to lay a solid groundwork for their STEAM learning in primary and secondary years. Our team will continue to encourage exploration among children by developing their interest in learning, quest for knowledge and the spirit of exploration," said Chan.
disu.dang@singtaonewscorp.com
