Learner-focused Chemistry Instructional Design

Learner-focused Chemistry Instructional DesignResearches on the reform of chemistry curriculum and instruction have paid increasing concern about the key issue: How to facilitate learners in their learning of chemistry and their development of science literacy in the emerging learning culture world-wide. The author tries to probe into this issue from the standpoint of learner -focused chemistry instructional design. By learner-focused chemistry instructional design the author means when we design chemistry instructional process: a) the level of learning and development of learners is in focus; b) students are active learners; c) design is based on the latest findings about how people learn and educational system development; d) design should accord with the chemistry logic and content; e) design emphasizes on learners' whole and harmonious development; and f) fostering learners science literacy and innovative consciousness is the core of chemical education.There are six parts in this dissertation:Part one is chemistry background of this dissertation. The author generalizes six topics of today's chemical education by analyzing the situation of today of chemical education status and development prospect. These topics are: chemistry is developing in a cross-boundary way; understanding chemistry is required for cultivating scientists and scientific literacy of citizen; chemical experimentation is a basic way of learningand inquiring chemistry; the significance and value of science--science andhumanity; modern information technology has been being integrated into chemistry curriculum and instruction; chemistry teachers grow up through design and research. All of these are also main respects of the implementation of the reform of chemistry curriculum and instruction of our country. With regard to the content design of chemistry curriculum and instruction, the author points out that designers must concern about the history of chemistry, its locality in the whole science system and its substantial connections with other science subjects; we must give prominence to the importance of chemical experimentation as a basic way of understanding chemistry and put an end to the situation that chemical experimentation is often neglected regarded as a tool in traditional chemistry instruction; we must pay attention to theunity of scientific and humanistic spirits in chemical education, and take the advantage of IT to facilitate learner's chemistry learning; chemistry teachers must improve their professional qualities and should become instructional designers and learners. Through summarizing national and international studies about chemical instructional design, the author finds that in the absence of learning theories and pedagogical content knowledge, chemistry teachers often rely on text books and syllabus, therefore forced to rely on the prescriptions of "absentee curriculum developers", who know nothing about the socio-cultural context where chemistry teachers are situated and the particular students in each chemistry teacher's classroom. Then the author identifies concrete research problems and the research way in this part.In part two, the author tries to interpret the history of instructional design and clarify some basic concepts confused in the field of chemistry instructional design for many years. These concepts include educational/instructional technology, instructional media, instructional design models and their source, the foundations of instructional design, all of which show a clear technological background for learner-focused chemistry instructional design, the reflection on instructional design theories in particular lead to the deliberate studies on theoretical foundations of learner-focused chemistry instructional design.In part three, the dissertation proposes its viewpoint on instructional design by exploring design, instructional design, and several views of instructional design. The dissertation states that learner-focused chemistry instructional design implies that a knowledge bas...