Press Release

(Hong Kong – 2 March 2016) Andy Loo, Terence Tsui, Alfred Lam and Ernest Yeu have actively participated in The Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE) and other gifted education programmes. They felt their learning needs were not sufficiently met by textbooks, so they determined to go beyond traditional education and enrich their knowledge by taking gifted programmes proactively. Such extraordinary positive learning attitude enabled them to find their own directions and fulfil their dreams. Now, they are all pursuing or going to pursue further studies at renowned universities both local and overseas. 

The key to success is active learning which satisfies one’s interests and thirst for knowledge. Recently, the Research Division of the HKAGE found a positive impact of the student members’ participation in the HKAGE on their academic performance. The more students were involved in their subjects of interest, the better they performed in the HKDSE, although there is no direct relation between the HKAGE programmes/activities and the HKDSE. 

A press meeting was held by the HKAGE today to disseminate the research findings on gifted students’ learning performance. The members were categorised into active members (i.e., those who have joined at least one course/workshop or one competition) and non-active members based on their participation records of programmes. The 2012-2014 HKDSE results of active members were compared with those of non-active members. On the whole, it is found that active members performed better than inactive ones. The difference between these two groups was statistically significant in the 2014 HKDSE results.

Furthermore, the active members were categorised into various groups based on their HKAGE performance scores, namely: the high performance group, the middle performance group and the lower performance group. After controlling these students’ initial ability levels (based on their corresponding selection test results when they were admitted to the HKAGE) and their schools’ overall performance levels in the HKDSE using statistical modelling, it is found that students in the high performance group of the HKAGE obtained better HKDSE results, as compared with those in the lower performance group. The difference observed between these two groups was statistically significant.

The research findings are in line with the experiences of Andy Loo, Terence Tsui, Alfred Lam and Ernest Yeu, showing that active learning, which satisfies one’s interests and thirst for knowledge, is essential for success, and the more students develop themselves in their subjects of interest, the better they perform academically.

Annex I

Mr Eric Fung, Research Manager of the HKAGE, disseminated the research findings on gifted students’ performances in the press meeting.	Ernest Yeu, alumnus of the HKAGE, shared his learning experience at the HKAGE. He believed that active learning is the key to success.