Press Release

(Hong Kong – 18 January 2014) The Annual Hotung Lecture was one of the signature events for the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education (HKAGE). The lecture concluded with great success at the Auditorium, Diocesan Girls’ School, Kowloon this afternoon.

As one of the pacesetters in gifted education, the HKAGE is dedicated to serving the community and offers the highest standards of information, support and appropriate learning opportunities for all stakeholders engaged in gifted education: students, teachers, parents and researchers. The HKAGE emphasises the importance of training for educators, to help them understand more about the needs of gifted students so that they can create a better learning environment for gifted students to maximise their potential.

Annual Hotung Lecture 2014, the education sector’s grand event, has provided a platform for a total of around 400 school leaders, teachers and educational psychologists supporting high ability students or gifted students as well as parents, to learn more from each other on learning best practice. The topic of this year’s lecture was “A Curriculum for Gifted Learners – What Teachers Can Do” and the Academy was honoured to invite Professor C. June Maker, Professor of College of Education from the University of Arizona to share 30 years of experience on how to differentiate the curriculum in the classroom to stretch the full potential of our high-end and unique learners.

The Academy was honoured to have Mr. Eddie Ng Hak-kim, JP, SBS, Secretary for Education, to be the Guest of Honour and deliver the Opening Remarks at the Lecture. The presence of professors from universities and Board of Directors of the Academy added colour to the event. Dr. Stephen Tommis, the Executive Director of the Academy, delivered a welcome address and expressed his gratitude to all guests for their kind support. He also stressed the importance of understanding that a single curriculum and a single pedagogy in the classroom is not a model for all students. One size does not fit all.

About Professor C. June Maker

Professor C. June Maker is Professor of Special Education in the Department of Disability and Psycho-educational Studies at The University of Arizona in Tucson. She coordinates doctoral degree programmes in gifted education, early childhood education and teacher courses in professional writing. She had served actively for National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and World Council for Gifted and Talented Children. She has consulted with numerous local school districts, state departments of education and other public and private agencies, both in the United States and in other countries. She has published numerous books, articles, and videos. She serves on editorial boards for journals in education of the gifted and special education, and is editor of the book series, Critical Issues in Gifted Education.

Prof Maker created and has been validating an assessment and curriculum model for development of talents in children from underserved culturally diverse groups in a project known as Project DISCOVER (Discovering Strengths and Capabilities while Observing Varied Ethnic Responses) funded by governmental agencies. Her most recent work is on integrating this model with Thinking Actively in a Social Context (TASC), and Problem Based Learning (PBL) to form, field-test, and conduct research on a new model for developing problem solving, Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving (REAPS).

Photo 1 Dr. Stephen Tommis, the Executive Director of the Academy, delivered a welcome address and expressed his gratitude to all guests for their support to the Lecture.	Photo 2 Professor June Maker shared her 30 years of experience on how to differentiate the curriculum in the classroom.

Photo 3 The Academy was honoured to have Mr. Eddie Ng Hak-kim, JP, SBS, Secretary for Education, to grace the event and present a token of appreciation to Professor June Maker.	Photo 4 Around 400 educators and parents joined the Annual Hotung Lecture 2014 to learn from a world-class expert.