Hong Kong then and now: a local history project with an alternative to a family interview (P4-P6)

• StageP4-P6
• SubjectPrimary Humanities
• Learning strandreflection on the application of AI
• Official documentsAI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools (Examples of Application Scenarios)
• Session time1 lesson (60 min); the project itself is completed outside class

A P4-P6 Humanities project on Hong Kong then and now, with interview prompts, a public-source path for pupils who cannot interview family, a worked source check and a three-level rubric, so every pupil can complete it.

• AudienceTeachers Students
• ThemeHong Kong inquiry

• EquipmentProjector or computer; printable worksheet; a street map or online map if available
• Version2.4
• Last updated2026-10-18

What this solves

“Hong Kong then and now” is a popular local history project, but the usual version asks every pupil to go home and interview a relative. Not every pupil can or should do that: pupils from newly arrived or cross-border families may have relatives unfamiliar with old Hong Kong, and looked-after children, pupils who have been bereaved, and families with language barriers can all find the task difficult or distressing.

This resource turns “interview a relative” from a requirement into one of two paths. Pupils who can and want to interview someone use the interview prompts; everyone else uses the public-source path, marked exactly the same, and completes the project from street views, old maps, old newspapers and library records. It also includes a worked source check and a three-level rubric.

The project can be one part of a school’s digital education planning and school-based curriculum, run in a humanities lesson and designed around learning diversity: pupils check an AI’s claim against a real source, practise verifying and fact-checking, and name the source for every claim.

Learning objectives

By the end, pupils can:

1. Choose a local place and name at least one specific difference between its past and its present.
2. Use one of two paths — interviewing a relative or using public sources — to gather information about the place.
3. Check an AI’s claim about the place against a real source and say what is right, wrong or unverified.
4. Explain that the project can be completed without interviewing family, and respect classmates’ different situations.

Written for the upper-primary learning stage, it covers the reflection on the application of AI strand of AI literacy, building empathy and critical thinking and keeping human judgement first.

Teaching steps

One 60-minute lesson, in four segments; the project itself is completed outside class.

1. Introduction (8 min) — Show two images of the same place, old and new (a diagram is fine), and ask: “What has changed here, and how do you know?”
2. Demonstrate checking (17 min) — Use the worked source check in the attachment to show how an AI’s claim about “Banyan Street” is checked against an old map and an old newspaper, and how the right and wrong parts are found.
3. Choose a path and plan the project (25 min) — Introduce the two paths: Path A interviewing a relative, Path B public sources, and stress that both count and are marked identically. Pupils choose a place and a path and fill in the planning section of the worksheet; the teacher circulates to make sure everyone has a workable starting point.
4. Wrap-up and set the task (10 min) — Explain the task and the “three never” rules (see teacher notes), and remind pupils to bring one source next lesson.

Answer key and marking notes

A good open answer is not “it is different now”; it must name a specific difference (e.g. “it used to be a pier, now it is a park”) and where that came from (whom they interviewed / which map or record).

Worked source check (fictional): the task is “we check an AI’s claim about the past of Banyan Street”.

Conclusion: the AI’s answer is partly right and partly wrong, so it cannot be trusted without checking it against a source.

Rubric (4 criteria × 3 levels):

Files

Worksheet(editable Word document)

Every street, place and source in the attachment is fictional and involves no real family, address or school.

Official documents

Every resource in this library is written to the AI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools and falls within the policy scope of the Blueprint for Digital Education Development in Primary and Secondary Schools.

This resource maps to:

• AI Literacy Learning Framework for Primary and Secondary Schools (Examples of Application Scenarios) (p.8): the document proposes a Hong Kong “past and present” project in which pupils use AI to help imagine the past, then check the AI’s account against oral history and other sources. This resource turns that scenario into a worksheet every pupil can complete, with an added path that needs no family interview.

Learning strand: reflection on the application of AI

Official documents page: https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/applicable-to-primary-secondary/it-in-edu/debp.html

This page is an independent Beets teaching resource, not an official EDB document.

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