Programmes & Courses

Overweight and obesity are considered to be health concerns across nations. Research suggested that children and youth who are obese and overweight are likely to stay obese and overweight into adulthood, and they are more likely to develop metabolic diseases as well as social and psychological problems.
One in five students in Hong Kong is categorized as obese or overweight, and the data suggested a rising trend particularly in secondary school students.

 

In this course, students will be guided to investigate the issue of childhood overweight and obesity in Hong Kong with the framework of Social Ecological Model (SEM) which is a comprehensive approach integrating multiple variables and layers that influence behaviour. Intrapersonal and interpersonal, community and organizational, institutional, environmental, and public policies factors are the layers included in this model.
Students are expected to strengthen their knowledge in health science, nutrition, and behavioural science in the course and be able to explore various strategies to facilitate the weight management in Primary or Secondary school through an experiential learning activity.

 

Students will work as a group to transfer the knowledge learnt from class and from other disciplines into practice by performing a comprehensive investigation based on the SEM that affecting the lifestyle of children in a selected school. At the end, students are required to prepare various strategies for the selected school to address the issue and to promote healthy living and weight management. Through the activity, students are expected to strengthen their knowledge, obtain new skills, and develop new attitude and ways of thinking towards the issue of childhood overweight and obesity, and recognize the challenges in weight management is more than just “eat less and move more”.

In addition to obtaining benefits of physical and mental health from doing exercises, large population would like to participate in sports competition in order to test their ability and as a motivation for engaging in regular exercises. Record breaking numbers of participants in Hong Kong Marathon every year and increasing numbers of community/school-based sports competitions proved the scope of participation. Therefore, scientific-based knowledge and skills in optimizing performance are essential as they can help with maximizing the physical function, performance in sports, and prevent injuries while injury is considered as one of the major drop out/suspension reasons in participating in regular exercises/physical activities. Besides, historical and cultural aspects will also be investigated in this course as they take important roles in affecting the evolution of sports and driving the advancement in improving the sports performance. 
 
This course will mainly focus on: i) measurement and result interpretation of both health-related and sports-related physical fitness components; ii) the exercise and training prescription for performance improvement and injury prevention; iii) psychological and nutritional factors affecting sports performance; iv) historical and cultural aspects affecting sports development and performance. The theories and impacts of science, technology, and psychology on sport performance and testing will be emphasized and students will gain experiential learning by teaming up to work and apply the knowledge for improvement of performance for a group of participants in sports competitions with a holistic approach.

One of the important facets for building sustainable communities is transport and connectivity. Among 100 major cities, Hong Kong was ranked the top city for sustainable transport in the 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index from Arcadis. But in choosing transportation modes, citizens often base their decisions on convenience and financial costs; environmental considerations seldom come into mind. This course aims to bring environmental footprint and social concerns of local transportation to the forefront. The seemingly simple decision of whether a person should walk to school/work will be examined through critical analysis and debate. Low carbon costs of walking will be weighed against complex issues such as priority of different road users, costs of building pedestrian walkways, and effects of roadside pollution for pedestrians to name a few. The interdisciplinary concerns and sustainability of urban planning and public health will be highlighted.

 

The government has made plans to enhance Hong Kong's walkability, but can walking be successfully promoted in a crowded city like Hong Kong? How can public engagement be effectively secured for such endeavour? Globally many walking campaigns have been organized but they mainly targeted at children and youths. Are there things we could learn from these campaigns for the grown-up world? In this course, students will engage in walking trips to explore and identify first-hand benefits, costs, and risks of walking as a form of active transportation. Collectively as a class, students will build a "resource bank" of walking related information and materials.