Complete activities from this project, built with hkps.css and hkps.js.
See also: Style guide, every component on its own.
Teacher, student and scientist views of one concept (.hk-concept). From the style guide.
Teacher
Whether something floats depends on how tightly its mass is packed into its volume — its density — compared with the water around it.
Try it: a lump of plasticine sinks, but the same plasticine shaped into a boat floats.
Student
“Heavy things sink and light things float.”
Hand them a small steel nail and a large wooden log picture. Ask which is heavier and which floats — weight alone can't explain it.
“A ship is metal so it should sink… maybe it's the air inside?”
Build on it — they're close. The air makes the ship's overall density low. Shape plasticine into a boat to test the idea.
Scientist
An object floats when the upward buoyant force equals its weight. By Archimedes' principle, that force equals the weight of fluid displaced.
So an object floats if its average density is less than the fluid's (water ≈ 1 g/cm³).
One tab per PDAR step (.hk-tabs). Each has a scenario and a click-to-reveal explanation panel. From test.html.
Ms Chan teaches Primary 1. Her class is learning about healthy living habits (1LA3) and developing them (1LA4). She wants the children to find out about their own day, not just hear about healthy habits.
Ms Chan sits with the class on the carpet. She holds up large picture cards: a child eating breakfast, a child playing on a slide, a child brushing teeth, a child watching on a tablet, a child asleep with a clock showing 8:30.
Ms Chan starts with pictures, not questions. "This is Ka Yan's day. What does Ka Yan do that helps her body?" The children point and talk. Then she asks, "Is your day a healthy day? How could we find out?" One child says, "We could remember." Another says, "We could draw it." Ms Chan shows the "My Day" sheet and says to the children "For three days, you will colour the picture when you do that thing." Before they start, she asks every child to say one thing: "Which picture do you think you will colour every day?"
What happens:
The class raises a simple question ("Is my day healthy?"). Children make a simple prediction from their own experience. The teacher chooses the method: what to record, how, and for how long.
Who does what at Primary 1:
Each morning, the class has a five-minute check-in. Children open folders and colour pictures on their "My Day" sheets. Children colour the pictures of what they did yesterday. One child adds a moon sticker for bedtime. Ms Chan does not correct anyone's sheet. She asks, "What did you colour? Tell me about it." The sheet stays at school and no writing is needed; children just get to colour.
Ms Chan starts with pictures, not questions. "This is Ka Yan's day. What does Ka Yan do that helps her body?" The children point and talk. Then she asks, "Is your day a healthy day? How could we find out?" One child says, "We could remember." Another says, "We could draw it." Ms Chan shows the "My Day" sheet and says to the children "For three days, you will colour the picture when you do that thing." Before they start, she asks every child to say one thing: "Which picture do you think you will colour every day?"
What happens:
Children collect evidence about their own day for three days and they record it by colouring pictures.
Who does what at Primary 1:
Why the sheet stays in school:
some families cannot help with homework. Recording "yesterday" at a morning check-in works for every child.
Pairs of children lay out their three sheets. They sort small copies of the picture cards onto a mat with three zones, marked with a full sun, a half sun and a seed. Ms Chan kneels beside a pair.
After three days, the children sort. Each picture goes on the mat: "every day", "some days" or "not yet". Ms Chan calls the last zone "not yet", not "no". Then she asks each pair, "Remember what you said on Monday? Did it happen?" A boy says, "I said I play every day. But I only played two days." That is a Primary 1 child comparing a result with a prediction.
What happens:
Children organise what they found by sorting. They compare the result with their prediction.
Who does what at Primary 1:
Why the sheet stays in school:
some families cannot help with homework. Recording "yesterday" at a morning check-in works for every child.
The class is back on the carpet. Children hold up one picture card each. Ms Chan points to the sleep and exercise cards, then shows an illustration of a child growing taller. A child places an "I will try" card in a class box.
The class shares. "I found I brush my teeth every day." "I found I go to bed late." Ms Chan links their findings to the science. Sleep, exercise and a balanced diet help the body grow and stay well. Then each child chooses one habit to try next week and draws it. Finally, Ms Chan thinks aloud: "Was three days enough? Did we forget anything?" The children offer ideas. The teacher makes the judgement.
What happens:
Children share what they found. The teacher explains the science. Children choose one habit to practise, which covers the values objective 1LA4. The teacher reflects on the method.
Who does what at Primary 1:
At Primary 1, Plan and Review are mostly teacher-led. Do and Analyse are where the children act. You will test that idea in the next activity.
Which card? Your class size, period length and the space you have.
Be specific:
"32 children, 35 minutes, classroom only, no carpet area."
What will you cut or shorten to fit a single period?
Card 1: use four body parts instead of six.
Protect the Share step. It is the Review, and it is where children say what they found.
Card 2: combine the Compare and Choose steps.
A .discussion-task callout, then .hk-example-post with an indented .hk-example-reply inside it. Leave the reply out if there isn't one.
Post your adapted activity. Add one thing you expect to go wrong with a fair test in your own classroom.
Then reply to two colleagues with a practical suggestion.
"Card 1, demonstration version, 32 children. I expect the groups at the back won't see the paper, and they'll lose interest. My plan: photograph each sheet and show it on the visualiser straight away."
"Try giving the back groups the 'variable-checker' job. They have to watch the distance and the sprays, so they stay involved."
Learners pick an answer and get instant feedback (.hk-prompt.hk-choice). Set the right answer with data-hk-answer. From the style guide.
Read each question. Is it about weather or climate? Choose your answer.
Should I bring an umbrella this afternoon?
One place, one time.
Which month is usually the wettest in Hong Kong?
"Usually" means a long-term pattern.
Learners select the lines of an Activity Card that contain a fault, then check. It has its own style block and script. From activity-3-5.html.
A colleague has written this Activity Card for a Primary 1 class. It has five faults. Select up to five lines that contain a fault, then select Check.
You have selected 0 of 5 lines.
The five faults, and where they come from:
You will see these five fault types again in every unit. Critiquing a card is easier than writing one. It builds the judgement you need for your own planner in Unit 2.
Examples
1. 'Problems': MCQs, Drop down, text input
2. Uploading assignments
