Boby Ho-Hong CHING

yb87473 Ricardo Hernany Dos Santos Brito2024-04-02T08:51:34+08:00

Affiliation

Faculty of Education

University of Macau

Email

bhhching@um.edu.mo

Tel

(853) 8822 8702

Fax

(853) 8822 2402

Office

Room 3004, Faculty of Education,

University of Macau, E33,

Av. da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China

Boby Ho-Hong CHING 程浩航

Associate Professor

Faculty of Education, University of Macau

Academic Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (Psychology in Education), University of Oxford, The United Kingdom
Master of Science in Education (Child Development and Education), awarded with Distinction, University of Oxford, The United Kingdom
Master of Philosophy in Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Bachelor of Social Science in Psychology, awarded with First Class Honours, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Academic Appointment

Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Macau. Macau, China

Research Interests

Mathematics learning in children
- Additive and multiplicative reasoning
- Development of mathematical concepts
- Early childhood mathematics teaching
- Affective aspects of mathematics learning e.g., mathematics anxiety
Self-worth and mindsets
- Contingent self-worth/self-esteem
- Self-image (e.g., body image, financial success) and compassionate goals
- Mindsets e.g., stress mindsets, failure mindsets, growth mindsets
- Character strengths e.g., gratitude, kindness, transcendence, mindsets, creativity
- Family influence e.g., parental psychological control, helicopter parenting
Social stigma: Development and implications in education
- Psychological essentialism
- Essentialist beliefs and social cognitive development in children
- Implications for intergroup relations e.g., prejudice and discrimination
- Implications for teachers’ and parents’ views in the context of special education

About Thesis Supervision

I am happy to accept graduate students (MPhil, PhD, EdD) whose proposed project aligns with my research interests. You MUST send your CV and unofficial/official transcript to me to evaluate potential fit. If you do not hear back from me after three days, you can assume that your application is not successful.

Please note that I will not reply to your inquiry if it is just a template with general contents (e.g., saying, “I am interested in how parents influence a child’s development”) and/or unrelated to my research interests. It is strongly discouraged to send multiple reminders. In general, previous education and research experience in psychology, such as educational psychology, developmental psychology, and/or social psychology, as well as proficiency in writing academic work in English is preferred.

Guidelines for Letter of Recommendation

There are many different reasons you might want a professor/lecturer to write a letter of recommendation for you or fill in appropriate parts of an application. You may want to apply to an MPhil or PhD programme, or for a job or research position. Whatever the reason, and whatever your level (i.e. undergraduate, MPhil, PhD), the checklist below will help you to make the letter-writing process as easy as possible.

What makes a good recommendation?
Your referees need time to compose a letter, and they already have many other demands on their time (teaching, conferences, meetings, paper-writing, writing other letters of recommendation, etc.). They will also need to know about your recent work and educational development – it’s a common mistake to assume that your referee knows you so well that you don’t need to tell them anything about yourself and your work. The following checklist aims to help you avoid common pitfalls.

Checklist
Give the following to your letter writers:

An up-to-date C.V.
A brief statement (1-2 lines) of why you are applying for the award or university.
The DEADLINE and all relevant application materials.
A statement about the PROCESS of recommendation:
- Should the referee wait to hear from the target organization?
- or should the referee need to give a sealed letter to the applicant?
- or should the referee need to send a sealed letter separately?
  If the latter:
- Give the full title and postal ADDRESS of the person to whom the reference is to be posted, preferably in electronic form.
A way to contact you if anything goes wrong/is missing, such as a phone number or an e-mail address.
Anything else that will help your referee write a letter for you.
If you are applying to a university: Your statement of interest/purpose or dissertation proposal.

Your referee has many demands on their time, so:

Ask your referee to write you a letter at least 1 month (if at all possible) before the letter is due.
Give your referee your application materials AT LEAST 2 WEEKS before they are due.
Offer to meet with your referee to talk about your work and progress.
Ask your referees how you should contact them if you need to inform them of any changes to your application (don’t assume you’ll reach them quickly by e-mail).
Ask your referee when they will be unavailable (this is especially important during holidays).

Letters of recommendation have to include specific knowledge of the applicant. Therefore, choose referees who know you and your work well. Remember that your lecturers/professors may refuse to write your letters of recommendation. They may do so for many reasons, including (a) they may feel that they do not know you or your work well enough, (b) they may not have the time to do so, (c) you may not have given them enough time to write a letter, or (d) they may feel that they cannot write a supportive recommendation given either your achievements, their knowledge of you, or their opinion of the appropriateness of the organization to which you are applying. Be prepared for such an eventuality.

Selected Publications

Research Theme 1 – Mathematics Learning in Children

Research Theme 2 – Self-Worth and Mindsets

Research Theme 3 – Social Stigma: Development and Implications in Education

Other Topics

Chang, F., Wu, H. X., Ching, B. H.-H., Li, X., & Chen, T. T. (2023). Behaviour problems in deaf/hard of hearing children: Contributions of parental stress and parenting styles. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 35, 607-630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-022-09869-2 [SSCI Q3; Impact factor: 1.8]
Ching, B. H.-H., & Nunes, T. (2015). Concurrent correlates of Chinese word recognition in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20,172-190. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env003 [SSCI Q2; Impact factor: 2.0]
Ching, B. H.-H.,Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D. W., Chung, K. K.-H., & Lo, L.-Y. (2014). Behavioural characteristics of Chinese adolescents with dyslexia: The use of teachers’ behaviour checklist in Hong Kong. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35, 1235-1257. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716413000179 [SSCI Q1; Impact factor: 2.1]
Zhang, X., Fung, H. H., & Ching, B. H.-H. (2009). Age differences in goals: Implications for health promotion. Aging and Mental Health, 13, 336-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607860802459815 [SSCI Q2; Impact factor: 3.4]
Fung, H. H., Ching, B. H.-H., & Yeung, D. Y. (2007). Age differences in emotional regulation: Findings from Western and Eastern cultures. In L. O. Randall (Ed.), Aging and the elderly: Psychology, sociology and health (p. 63-88). Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Courses Taught

Educational Psychology
Introduction to Special Education
Elementary Mathematics Teaching and Research
Advanced Developmental Psychology
Theories and Studies of Child Development
Motivation and Learning
Supervised Teaching and School Experience
Undergraduate Honour’s Project
Master’s and Doctoral Thesis Supervision

Professional Affiliations

American Psychological Association (APA)
Association for Psychological Science (APS)
British Psychological Society (BPS)
The European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI)
Jean Piaget Society (JPS)
Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)