Cultivate future comprehensive talents with inquiry-based learning as the core

CUHKFAA Chan Chun Ha Secondary SchoolAdhering to the educational philosophy of "nurturing students to become the future pillars of society", from classroom teaching with independent mutual assistance, student-run coffee shops for business practice, research center activities with ecological exploration, school-based courses focusing on innovative thinking, and social innovation projects focusing on society, the school always takes "inquiry-based learning" as the core to build a diversified learning and practice platform for students. Through active exploration, students are trained to become future talents with both humanities and technological literacy, innovative problem-solving abilities, and cross-field applications. Principal Ho Suk Yin I hope that every student can find the direction of interest and career development through exploration, and become a comprehensive talent that adapts to future social development and can make positive contributions to society.

Independent and mutual learning, exploring knowledge and consolidating what has been learned

The school advocates a teaching model of "autonomous and mutually assisted learning" to break the limitations of one-way knowledge transfer in traditional classrooms. Before class, teachers will carefully prepare relevant teaching materials. Students need to focus on the learning topics, independently study the teaching content in advance, and actively mark the knowledge points that they have doubts about. In class, students will carry out group discussions with pre-sorted questions, explore answers together in the collision and exchange of ideas, and gradually resolve knowledge difficulties. After class, teachers will also provide students with opportunities to display their results, allowing them to further consolidate what they have learned through sharing and reporting. Principal Ho Suk Yin pointed out: "When students have the ability to self-study, they can proactively explore new fields and new knowledge; with a spirit of inquiry, they can actively seek solutions when encountering difficulties; and by learning to cooperate with others and learn from their peers, they can function better in a team."

Students operate CCH CAFÉ independently to create experience and practice what they have learned

In order to further implement the concept of inquiry-based learning, with the financial support of the school director, the school built a new "Business Education Room" and opened CCH CAFÉ on this basis, which is completely independently operated by students. From coffee bean purchase and cost accounting to product pricing and store promotion, every link is personally participated in the planning and execution by students. During the operation of the coffee shop, students will truly face the challenges of profit and loss, and share their experience, difficulties encountered and solutions during the operation with people from all walks of life participating in school activities. The school pays more attention to the sustainable development of projects, such as exploring the recycling of coffee grounds, and strives to make full use of more different resources. The school also plans to promote this environmental protection concept to the community and surrounding primary schools, lead students to contribute to environmental protection, and cultivate students' sense of social responsibility and sustainable development awareness in practice.

Throughout the entire process, the teacher always plays the role of "guide". From the writing of project plans to the formulation of specific operating strategies, every step is driven by students independently. Teachers only provide appropriate guidance and suggestions when students encounter bottlenecks. This "student-centered" development concept not only allows students to actively learn through independent inquiry, but also stimulates their interest and enthusiasm in the business field. Principal Ho Suk Yin said: "CCH CAFÉ allows students to experience the value and significance of knowledge through real scenes and practical opportunities, and achieves the educational goal of 'learning by doing and thinking while learning'."

"Zhenxia Ecological Research Center" explores ecology, cares for the community, and conserves ecology

The school is also distinctive in terms of ecological environmental protection and scientific inquiry education, of which the construction of the "Study Hall" and the development of related projects are important examples. The school has launched in-depth cooperation with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and invited scientists who study butterfly genes in this field to participate in the project guidance. It has become one of about 20 schools in Hong Kong participating in the butterfly ecological research project, focusing on butterfly genetic analysis and research. Professors from CUHK will come to the school regularly to provide training for students, guiding them to master butterfly observation, data statistics and report writing methods. Students are required to regularly visit the community to observe the ecological habits of different species of butterflies, record relevant data in detail and write research reports, and provide feedback to CUHK professors on time.

The "Research Center" not only focuses on butterfly ecological research, but is also an important base for the school to carry out bird understanding and environmental protection education. The school's bird-watching team has repeatedly won good results in territory-wide competitions, and has been invited to participate in RTHK programs to share research experience. In order to expose students to more diverse fields of ecology and science, the school has also carried out a variety of special activities in the Secondary One bridging course, such as paleontological fossil workshops, flower anatomy and bird watching experiences. Under the guidance of experts, students personally participated in fossil excavation and cleaning work, carefully searched for shark teeth, brachiopods and crustacean fossils, and collected their "results" as souvenirs to experience the fun of scientific inquiry.

Add inquiry elements to the classroom and use AI to assist learning

The school has also made innovations and optimizations in science classroom teaching. Principal Ho Suk Yin pointed out: "We encourage students to make good use of AI, independently explore and design experiments, and cultivate scientific thinking and inquiry abilities. For example, in a fair test class, the teacher proposed the inquiry task of "Comparing the water absorbency of two different brands of paper towels" without giving a specific experimental plan. Instead, students are guided to independently search for relevant information and design experimental methods through the AI platform. "In the process, the teacher will guide students to learn how to write AI prompt words to obtain effective reference information, help students build the ability to think critically, learn to distinguish the authenticity of information, and be able to independently judge the answers to questions, rather than passively accepting knowledge given by others.

Open creative thinking courses to improve the quality of life with scientific and technological products

The school offers creative thinking courses at Form 1 and Form 3, divided into two directions: science and technology. Students first need to pay attention to the difficulties and problems encountered by groups in need in their daily lives; then, they will integrate the scientific and technological knowledge learned in the classroom into solutions and independently design and produce related products. For example, a Form 1 student invented a "homework collection machine" that automatically registers and counts students' homework by taking a photo of their student ID card, which provides convenience for teachers in their daily teaching work.

Last school year, the school participated in the "Lighting Up Society Innovation Competition 2025" organized by the Department of Applied Social Sciences of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. When students observed a large number of new furniture being discarded in daily life, they realized that Hong Kong is facing serious resource waste and furniture abandonment problems. Finally, they designed the "Rebirth Bank" mobile application, which combines 3D scanning and AR (Augmented Reality) technology to allow users to virtually scan furniture, and then use AR technology to place virtual models of furniture in their homes to simulate the actual placement. By exploring the use of AI to analyze users’ interior design styles, we can more accurately recommend suitable second-hand furniture.

In order to encourage students to share their achievements and stimulate enthusiasm for innovation, the school holds a learning achievement exhibition at the end of each semester to allow students to display their innovative works and research and development results to the teachers and students of the school. At the same time, the school also recommends outstanding students to participate in international exhibitions such as the British Innovation and Technology Exhibition, providing students with a platform to exchange innovation and technology thinking with foreign students and showcase themselves.

"Social Innovation Activities" explore problems, design solutions, and give back to society

The school also provides students with opportunities to explore and learn through a variety of activities. Among them, "social innovation activities" aim to guide students to care about society, pay attention to disadvantaged groups, and contribute to solving social problems through innovative ideas. Students need to conduct in-depth investigation and thinking around problems in the community (such as the living difficulties of disadvantaged groups, waste of community resources, etc.), and design solutions or propose feasible ideas. For example, students once conceived the idea of "Smartphone Smart" to address the problems of elderly people in the community having difficulty traveling and shopping. Senior" project, by expanding the volunteer network, recruiting college students and recently retired people, setting up a "mobile phone support station" in the elderly center, and providing support services with different functional themes in video and physical forms. Regular situation simulation exercises are held to help the elderly become familiar with mobile phone operations, thereby reducing their unfamiliarity and anxiety about mobile phone interfaces. The final plan won the "Inspiration 3.0-Youth Social Innovation Service Award" and "Today's Ideas, Tomorrow's Change" Bronze Award.