While experiments have been proven to be an excellent teaching tool in natural sciences subjects, they are rarely used in the teaching of Economics because teachers of economics traditionally believe that it is impossible to replicate what happens in the economy in a classroom setting. However, recent advancement in economic research and teaching has demonstrated that this belief is outdated. Economics experiments can be conducted just like those in natural sciences. More importantly, most economic concepts can be taught and learned more effectively through classroom experiments. In laboratories students systematically gather and use empirical information to discover economic principles at work, to test the usefulness and validity of the theory developed in the lectures and discussions, and to make informed and reasoned decisions about economic activity and policy. Because a well-designed experiment is often fun to conduct in class, it also helps arouse students' interest in learning the subject. While having fun, students have a better understanding -- as well as a longer memory -- of the concepts and theories being taught.

Limted by the approved budget, we will focus on experiments that can be implemented in individual classrooms. Examples of the first group include an oligopoly (microeconomics) experiment that illustrates the motives to form cartel and the difficulty to maintain it, and a macro-economy (macroeconomics) experiment that illustrates the relation between prices and unemployment.

The implementation of experiments is non-trivial, however. A direct transplant of those experiments developed for foreign classrooms into Hong Kong's secondary schools is unlikely to be successful. Any successful design of experiments will have to take into account of

1. the variation of students' quality in different schools (say, the schools can be broadly classified into two groups that use different media of instruction, i.e., Chinese and English),
2. the variation in the teachers' understanding of Economics, and
3. teachers' time constraint in adopting and developing new methods (i.e., experiments) in their teaching due to their heavy teaching load.

Knowing the secondary school teachers' constraints, we propose to introduce a set of experiments -- carefully screened, modified and tested -- to fit into the Hong Kong's classroom setting. The extensive screening, modification and testing procedures and our follow-up technical support will ensure that the experiments to be implemented in secondary schools without imposing much learning cost on teachers using them.

While our workshops and support are targeted towards the secondary school teachers and students, our project will likely benefit university education as well. First, the project will help strengthen the relation and understanding between secondary schools and the university, and hence encourage mutual support in the future. Second, the project helps improve the quality of incoming students into any Hong Kong universities by improving secondary school students' knowledge in Economics. Third, some of our developed experiments can be used by our university colleagues in their teaching and hence will directly impact on the quality of teaching Economics in Hong Kong universities.

Activities to be organized and the details:
In addition to the work done by the project team, two types of activities will be organized for secondary school teachers and students:

1. Workshops and trial runs of experiments to be held at CUHK campus
   In workshops, we will introduce selected experiments to secondary school teachers. A trial run of the experiments will also be conducted in the workshop, played by students from pilot schools. Feedback will be collected immediately after the workshop from both pilot school students who participate in the workshop and secondary school teachers.
2. Trial run of experiments at pilot schools
   We will help teachers to implement the experiments in pilot schools. Project assistants will be sent to video-record the experiments and help collect feedback from students and teachers. When needed, we will provide additional technical assistance.

Expected deliverables and outcome:
The final product will include

1. A user's guide to implement the Economics experiments in classrooms, available in the form of a CD-rom, and web pages in our project web server.
2. An archive of video recording of trial-run experiments.
3. A mailing list / forum for the sharing of experience and for the mutual support among teachers in implementing the experiments.
   

Evaluation method, that is, how the objectives and effectiveness of the project/activities are evaluated:
Continuous evaluation throughout the project implementation is important for its development. The following evaluation schemes will help ensure our final product meet the needs of secondary teachers and students.

1. Feedback about the experiment trial-run in workshops will be collected through questionnaire and group discussions immediately after the workshops held in CUHK campus.
2. Questionnaire will be collected after trial runs in individual secondary schools.
3. Discussion in our electronic forum.
4. The number of schools using our experiments also signals how well our project is received.

Key project team members (in the order of getting involved in the project):

1. Wong, Ka-fu, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, CUHK.
2. SIU, Lai-ping, Associate Professor, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, CUHK.
3. LAU, Sau-yin, Economics teacher, Queen Elizabeth School Old Students' Association Secondary School.
4. Yung, Chor-wing, Instructor, Department of Economics, CUHK