1. Requirements of UIIT-assessment item 1
Project-based learning for Liberal studies
Target students: All form 1 students
Objectives: Emphasis is placed on cultivating student’s key generic skills (9
generic skills- communication, creativity, critical thinking, cooperation, self-
management, self-study, problem solving, information technology and
numeracy).
Teaching notes: Appendix 1 from the attached files
Student work: Appendix 2 from the attached files,
Appendix 1 is the teaching materials and 2 is the student work of the project
based learning), my form 1 students are required to finish a project-based
learning which accounted to 50% of the total marks of the examination.
The settings are as follow:
(1) Topic: School Improvement Project
(2) Group size: 4-5 person in one group (with a class size of 34, students are
divided into 7 groups)
(3) Amount of money: Not exceeding HK$120
(4) Duration: 2 months (including discussion time, consultation, project and
model making and verbal presentation)

2. (5) Assessment: Discussion (participation in class) – 20%
Verbal Presentation – 20%
PowerPoint – 20%
Model making (criteria: creativity, practicability, aesthetic) –
20%
Written reflection – 20%
Throughout the project, students are given chances to practice and learn the
9 generic skills, they get the valuable learning experience which may be
benefitial and useful to them life-long. They learn the skills of communication
and cooperation through discussion with their group members, in order to
achieve the final goal of completing the project, they need to compromise with
each other. Also, with the time limitation, most students need to use holidays
to discuss and make models with their group members together in one of the
member’s house, this is a golden chance for students to learn cooperating
with others. They learn the critical thinking skills, as throughout the project,
they need to think which topic to chose and why (for example, one of my
students chose to improve the school rules, her group mates critically
examine the topic and band it as they think it is better to chose concrete topic
instead of an abstract one since they need to hand in a model). For

3. cultivating creativity, they need to think for improvement of the school, they
need to use their creativity to make a beautiful and practical model. In
making the PowerPoint for the verbal presentation, they practiced
using Information technology in their study. At the same time,
since they need evidence to support the installation of their
improvement project (e.g. some students suggest setting up a
canteen at school), they are guided and instructed to make some
survey tools (like a questionnaire or survey), then they need to
conduct their survey with their schoolmates and make bar charts
and tables in their PowerPoint. After that, they are requested to, with the
suggestion and guidance of the teacher, analyze the data they collected and
reported them in their verbal presentation. Thus, they are expected to learn
the skills of numeracy and problem-solving. Also, in making a model with a
limit amount of money, they need to think of how to make it (like how big is it
and what are the material for making and whether it will exceed the amount),
it also train their problem-solving skills.
For the rest of the generic skills like self-study and self-management, the
former can be learnt in the process of finding information in the library or in
the internet to finish the PowerPoint, model and written report at home, and

4. for the later one, since students need to finish their own part of the report and
the model, they learnt the time management skills (which is an important part
of self-management).
The learning effectiveness has been supported by the finding in the evaluation
report conducted with the form 1 students after the project. Students have
been asked to fill in a multiple-choice questionnaire. The results are as follow:
Questions (Participants: all form 1 students- a total of Agree Disagree
170 students)
I learn how to communicate and cooperate with my classmate 92% 8%
I use my creativity in making the model or designing the topic 80% 20%
I think critically in doing the project or making the model 74% 26%
I use PowerPoint or other IT devices in the project (like 100% 0%
Video-making tools, flashes, create a website)
I practise and learn how to make questionnaire, conduct 94% 6%
interviews and analyze the numerical data
I find information without teacher’s help at home (like through 78% 12%
library, internet and asking friends or adults)
I have encountered a problem in the project but successfully 76% 24%
solving it at last
I can finish my own part in the project on time 98% 2%
The above survey has been conducted with all the current form one students
of my school, the total number of participants accounted for 170 people. It
aims to examine to what extent the target students learn the 9 generic skills
through the project-based learning. The findings are satisfactory since the
majority of the students expressed that they have learnt or experience the 9
generic skills when conducting the report.