A Survey And Comparative Study On The Implementation Of Physics Curriculum Modules In General Senior High School

It's five years since the new curriculum of senior high school in China formally entered into the classroom in September, 2004. In the meantime, Shandong, Ningxia, Hainan, Guangdong and Jiangsu province (autonomous region) completed a full round of new curriculum teaching in senior high school. The curriculum reform of senior high school is characterized by modules as the basic unit of the course structure, which provides an important foundation for the new curriculum to promote all-round and individualistic development of students in senior high school.Module curriculum originated in England in 1980s. For its diversity and adaptability, it was soon introduced to curriculum system of general education and vocational education in many countries. It is a new form of curriculum structure which can promote the cultivation of students' creative spirit and their all-round and individualistic development better. However, various reasons makes the implementation of curriculum modules struggling, which includes the deep-rooted impact of implementation practice of traditional curriculum in China., the lag of matched measures and the unequipped necessary conditions in the first round of the implementation of modular curriculum. At present, there is a lack of in-depth study on many aspects of designing and implementation of the module curriculum at home and abroad, especially the lack of theoretical study on some aspects which exerts a direct influence on the effect of curriculum implementation, including partition of modules, the form criterion of curriculum modules, the selection of modules, and the evaluation of modules.This study attempts to take physics courses of senior high school as an example and tries to find out the characteristics and the main problems of the implementation of new curriculum ,based on the acquisition and analysis of a large number first-hand information on the implementation of Physics module curriculum in the senior high school by means of full investigation and study; it also studies some issues of the Physics curriculum module in senior high school using systems analysis and seek to get a new solution to some theoretics problems during the process of the implementation of curriculum modules . At the same time, it conducts the text study on the theoretical research and exploration of the implementation of module curriculum abroad, and tries to seek the characteristics and rules of the implementation of modular curriculum to provide a reference to the implementation of curriculum modules in senior high school of China.This thesis research consists of three studies. First, the survey analysis of the implementation of Physics curriculum modules of high school in our country; secondly, the in-depth investigation and analysis of the arrangement and implementation of the Physics common compulsory modules of high school; thirdly, the international comparison of the implementation of the general senior high school module.First of all, the questionnaire on the understanding of the Physics module curriculum structure, the teaching arrangement, the examinations, credits giving ,course selection and guidance of curriculum modules covers 1240 physics teachers from the first teaching line in Shandong, Guangdong, Hainan, Ningxia, Jiangsu, five experimental provinces (autonomous regions), From the statistical analysis of the results of the questionnaire, the thesis sums up the characteristics of Physics module curriculum implementation in senior high school in China, and identifies the existing main difficulties and problems. It also expounds and proves the rationality of the partition of Physics curriculum modules using systems analysis .Secondly, taking the two common compulsory modules as an example, it conducts in-depth investigation and analysis of the actual teaching hour arrangement aiming at the popular prominent problem of shortage of teaching hours.The purpose of the study was to explore the main reasons for the lack of teaching hours and the solutions to the problem. Thirdly, to review the implementation characteristics of our senior high school curriculum modules in a broader perspective, it summarizes the characteristics of the implementation of curriculum modules in the two countries by text analyzing the representative countries, the United Kingdom and Finland's typical situation and rules of senior high school curriculum modules implementation , and conducts a comparative study of module curriculum implementation in China ,UK and Finland, curriculum implementation module to identify the countries and the common rules. Finally, based on the results of the above three studies the thesis put forward suggestions to the senior high school curriculum module implementation in our country.The main conclusion drawn from the study is that:By the systemic investigation, test study, detailed analysis and comparison, it is found that(1) There are 89% of Physics teachers have some cognition of the curriculum structure of senior high school, 82.8% of the teachers affirm the rationality of the structure of Physics curriculum module. Otherwise, the teachers who denial national curriculum program that requests to complete a module in 40 hours is more 8.2 percentage points than the teachers who affirmed it.(2) Based on the analysis of Physics module curriculum, there is a strong relevancy between the two compulsory modules; it should be them as a whole for achieving its function. The two modules in elective 1 and the three modules in elective 2 have strong independency, and the partition is reasonable; the modules of 3-1 and 3-2 in the elective 3 have strong relevancy, it should be considered them as a whole in order to achieve the function; another three modules have strong independence, the partition is also reasonable.(3) The requirement of national curriculum program (complete a module in 40 hours) is not complied basically. The majority of schools have the more hours than the limit; most schools have the half times hours more than the limit; 30% of the schools have the hours even more than one times. The further in-depth investigation indicates that the excess hours are used to increase the consolidation study, such as the lessons of exercise, reviewing and appraising examinations.(4) The one Qualified rate of the module curriculum test's is generally high, more than half of school's one qualified rate of compulsory common modules achieve above 95%, which indicates the module curriculum reduced the difficulty stair of high school Physics curriculum effectively, is advantageous to the intergrades of junior high school and senior high school.(5) The open degree of students choosing courses is very low, more than half of students' courses are designated entirely by the schools, in addition more than 30% of schools only allow students to choose in limitedly "the curriculum meal". There is no specialist participation basically, becomes a mere formality most.Through the international comparison, it is found that the counties implementing module curriculum.(6) The counties universally attach importance to series of policy in the national lay, make unified programming of the implementation process and the aspects of entering a higher school and each qualification recognized related with curriculum, implement the overall plan management.(7) The counties take the effective action to break the medium general education and the vocational education boundary, causes two kind of curriculum preponderance complementary, exerts maximum selective function of the module curriculum, and creates more opportunities for student's individuality development.(8) They have set up specialized organizations of supervising class for students in the school level widely, and have employed professionals to make all-sided and pertinence direction for the students choosing course which related to the lifelong development of students.In order to exert the unique function of the implementation of module curriculum fully and to achieve the established objectives in general senior high schools, according to the conclusions above, the paper puts forward some reference suggestions, such as some correlative policies, design of modules, management of curriculum, the instruction of selecting curriculum, and so on.