Newsletter No. 541

Building an observatory at over 5,000 m above sea level with scarce supply of oxygen, electricity, water and food was a painful ordeal, but this project made the name for the Group, which was soon contracted to construct telescopes for national observatories in Malaysia, Indonesia and mainland China. Twenty years of entrepreneurship has taught him gain and loss are two sides of the same coin. ‘If I had seen things in money terms, I would not have taken on the Tibet project and many school activities. An incident that looks like a bad deal may lead to something rewarding. Life is a succession of losses and gains. It’s not advisable to feel too strongly about things; just try your best to do what you at present believe is the right thing to do.’ Christine N. 三十歲那年，他瀟灑的放棄了摩托羅拉養 尊處優的美差，全職發展自己的興趣，經營 「星河科研社」。初期主要營辦中小學天文 教育活動，也替學校和不同機構興建天文 台。2009年獲邀在西藏的阿里地區興建天 文台。 在五千多米海拔之上建造天文台，缺氧、缺 電、缺水、缺食物，歷盡險阻。但經此一役， 星河科研社聲名鵲起，開始承接國家級天文 台項目，包括為馬來西亞浮羅交怡國家天文 台、印尼國立航天研究所、中國科學院紫金 山天文台等科研重地建造望遠鏡。 創業二十年讓他感悟最深的是：得與失實屬 一體。「倘若我凡事以金錢衡量，斤斤計較， 那麼西藏的項目和許多學校活動我根本不會 接。某件事表面看來是『失』，但會引致另一 件『得』的事。整個人生就是由得得失失組 成，無需太執着，只管做好當下自己認為對的 事就行了。」 榜 上 友 名 / R oll C all A lum 星空奇遇記 Reaching for the Stars 方浩翔 當年報讀中大，是衝着新亞書院的 天文台而來的。他自小醉心天文，九歲便自 製第一支天文望遠鏡。當他得知人文館天 台上有座樓高兩層、上噸重的圓頂天文台 時，就毫不猶豫報了中大，主修電子工程。 剛入學不久更獨力承擔天文台的颱風後  重建。 掃描閱讀全文 Scan to read the full story 玩樂釋放創意 Playing with Creativity 在香港，傳統的在學教育重視牢記背誦大於 創意。中大心理學系的 Catherine McBride 教授（中）夥拍香港教育大學的 周彥玲 博 士（左）、國際商業專家 Helmuth Aberer （右）創立「開彥教育設計有限公司」。 「碰碰詞」是該初創教育機構首款遊戲，強 調發揮創意。參與者要把印有圖案和文字的 卡牌結合，組成複合詞，中英皆可。特別之 處是，發揮創意者可獲額外獎賞。參與者組 合出一個現有的複合詞，例如太陽花，可獲 一分；若組合出一個「滑稽」的詞語，例如  「冰鼠」，便獲兩分。參與者創造一個不存 在的詞語，得到的是獎勵而非懲罰。「碰碰 詞」的概念與傳統學習模式相反。 McBride教授解釋：「我們想證明寓學習於 遊戲能記得更牢、學得更投入。很多教育工 作者認為，享受與學習不能兼容。我們否定 這種理論。」 McBride教授的研究小組對上千學生進行 測試，涉及多種語言。「碰碰詞」正是團隊參 考研究而製成。但若要廣泛推行，得先說服 家長。「讓孩童釋放創意，家長並不放心。孩 子做『錯』，家長便認為孩子有問題。我們得 先扭轉這觀念。」 解決問題有兩個主要方向：擴散性思維和聚 歛性思維。就開放式問題想出多個解決方 法屬擴散性思維。聚歛性思維只需整合出 一個答案。Aberer說：「至今我們所見的玩 具和遊戲，只有我們的產品要用上兩種思維  模式。」 公司的理念是結合非政府組 織的價值觀和商業運作模 式。Aberer說：「我們有一個 社會目標和一個商業目標。我 們一方面以低價向幼稚園和非 掃描閱讀全文 政府組織出售卡牌遊戲，一方面授權某公司 出售產品以擴充業務。」 要把創新理念帶入固守傳統的學校，無疑挑 戰重重。但隨着年代推進，教育亦應跟上。  「碰碰詞」或許可為孕育靈活變通、創意滿 溢的學生獻一分力。 Traditional schooling places little value on creativity and, in Hong Kong, rote memorization reigns as the de facto learning approach. Prof. Catherine McBride (centre) in CUHK’s Department of Psychology and Dr. Yanling Zhou (left), an assistant professor at the Education University of Hong Kong, teamed up with international business expert Mr. Helmuth Aberer (right) to found Cayan Educational Design Ltd. BumperCards, the startup’s first game, emphasizes creativity. Children can play in Chinese or English; the goal is to combine cards to make compound words. With BumperCards, there is a premium placed on creativity. Players receive one point for normal words (e.g., sunflower), while ‘silly’ words, such as ‘ice-mouse’, are worth double. For nonexistent words, players are rewarded rather than penalized. Conceptually, BumperCards st ands antithetical to traditional learning. ‘We want to reveal how impactful gamification is. Gamification improves retention and par ticipation. Many educators think if you have fun, you won’t lear n. We’re disproving this,’ explains Professor McBride. Professor McBride’s research group has tested thousands of students across several languages. BumperCards is built upon research although wide -scale implementation starts with convincing parents of this approach. ‘If we ask kids to be creative, parents are afraid of this. If a child does something “wrong” parents believe their child has a problem. We have to convince parents otherwise,’ says Professor McBride. There are two primary avenues of problem- solving: diver gent and conver gent thinking. Discovering multiple solutions to an open - ende d p r ob l em is di ve r gen t , while conver gent thinking ent ails conver ging on one answer. ‘Out of all the toys and games we’ve seen, only ours combines convergent and divergent thinking. We’ve created a 社 創 薈 動 / S ocially E nterprising What attracted Savio Fong to apply to CUHK in the late 1980s was the dome observatory in New Asia College. He had been in love with astronomy and made his own telescope when he was only nine. So when he discovered that the Humanities Building in CUHK was installed with a two-storey observatory weighing over one tonne, he did not hesitate to enrol at the University to major in electronic engineering. In his freshman year he single-handedly repaired the observatory that had been destroyed in a typhoon. When he turned 30, Savio quit his well- paid job at Motorola and has since operated the Galaxy Scientific Group on a full-time basis. At first, the Group’s main business was to hold astronomy activities for secondary and primary school students. It also helped schools and other organizations to construct observatories. In 2009, Savio got invited to build an observatory in Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. revolutionary game,’ says Mr. Aberer. Cayan Educational Design Ltd aims to combine the values of an NGO with commercialization. ‘We have a social and commercial goal,’ says Mr. Aberer. ‘We distribute the game to kindergartens and NGOs at a low price while we license it to a corporation for scale.’ Cayan Educational Design Ltd is tasked with integrating an unconventional idea into schools cemented in orthodoxy. Yet, as generations evolve so must education. BumperCards may be the catalyst for more creative students for years to come. Phil Rosen Scan to read the full story Anxiety Anxiety envy mad mad MAD hurt Hate Hate Violent disappointed disappointed Anger “Hey! Stop Pushing!!!” - MOOD SWING - 06 # 5 4 1 | 1 9 . 0 8 . 2 0 1 9