Welcome to the Jockey Club "Play n Gain" Project website. Thanks to a generous donation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club "Play n Gain" Project and related research was officially launched in September 2018.

 

I sincerely thank local and internationally renowned scholars for their expert advice on design of the project. I am very pleased that many kindergartens have agreed to actively participate. The project and the research results will benefit children, parents, teachers and the community.

 

In the face of advances in technology, excessive use of electronic products may adversely affect children's social and emotional development. To compensate for this possibility the project focuses on face-to-face games activities to enhance children's interpersonal communication skills and emotional development. The game activities are arranged during the regular school hours of the kindergarten. The trained parent volunteers systematically use face-to-face interactive games to enhance children's social skills. The project will also organise a series of training courses, game education activities and seminars, covering not only kindergarten parent education and teacher professional development but also family and community, enabling the public to participate. Researchers will continually optimize the various elements of the project through continuous assessment and a summative assessment report.

Research plan to evaluate the impact of games on children's social skills

 

The project will arrange a professional team to train teachers and parents to become game instructors so that the program can be continuously implemented in the kindergarten and can be extended to other kindergartens. The research aspect will last for three years and will be fully implemented in 14 local kindergartens. Six kindergartens will be involved in the first year. The project will also conduct follow-up studies.

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In addition to assessing the social and gaming abilities of children in partner kindergartens, the research team will evaluate their effectiveness in enhancing parent-child relationships, teacher-student relationships, and children’s smooth transition into Primary 1.  The conceptual model used in this project is derived from  “Social Star Mirror Model” (「社交閃星星」學習概念模型 )​ interactive collective game, which was supported by a research review (Liu, 2015). This model has been in practice for more than a decade and has been proven to have a good educational effect.

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The logo of the Jockey Club "Play n Gain" is a rainbow wave lollipop, and the seven-colour rainbow symbolizes hope. It is hoped that relevant research will help to complete this project, and ultimately promote effective cooperation between home and school to promote social transformation. The star is a symbol of a magical change.  This project can enhance children’s growth and change. The center of the logo is the English letter "G", which represents Growth. 
 
With the close cooperation of parents of the kindergartens and the community, everyone will play and grow with the children and have lots of fun.

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Dr Mantak YUEN

 

Principal Investigator

Jockey Club "Play n Gain" Project

Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education (CAISE)

Faculty of Education

The University of Hong Kong