Research On The Integration Of Traditional Science And Technology Into Kindergarten Curriculum

Human beings live in the natural environment and the observations,reflections and explosions caused by curiosity have formed science.The five thousand years' history of civilization in China has left us a rich heritage of science and technology,which has formed the discipline system that focuses on astronomy,mathematics,agronomy and medical science,the practical technologies and technological systems centering on the fields such as water conservation,architecture,metallurgy,shipbuilding,ceramics,machinery,textiles and military science and existing in the “skilled” form of knowledge,and the scientific traditions based on the natural view of generative theory and characterized by modelling of holism.These scientific and cultural heritages are important carriers of Chinese civilization,and spiritual bonds and important bridges for maintaining national sentiments,which contain rich historical,scientific and cultural values and are important traditional cultural and educational resources.In the field of culture,science and technology lead the progress of life.From the perspective of contemporary international development trends,human culture is an inevitable trend for the development of science education.For the preschool children whose thinking is still in the concrete image stage,they even more need the life-oriented science education that integrates culture and science.It helps build a scientific curriculum with humanistic temperature and cultural self-development ability for kindergartens to explore the Chinese traditional science and technology containing humanistic temperature and reveal the value of modern education,which is of far-reaching significance for children to understand the wisdom of ancient China about materials,technology and ideas,develop a “sincere” scientific spirit and gain critical experience in the field of science.Based on the international perspective of culture and science-integrated and life-oriented science education,this paper sticks to problem orientation and conducts research centering on the theme of integrating traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum with the domestic actual demand of building a kindergarten curriculum that integrates into life and cultural background in the field of science as the entry point,where the subjects like preschool pedagogy,scientific pedagogy,curriculum theory,and cultural anthropology to reveal the characteristics of the traditional science and technology-centered kindergarten curriculum in the field of science so as to provide theoretical support,countermeasures and proposals for the dual cultivation of children in terms of scientific spirit and humanistic spirit,the development of preschool teachers' science education ability and the improvement of the quality of kindergarten curriculum in the field of science,and the academic review,theoretical discussion,reality investigation,program construction,action research and curriculum support system these six research tasks have been completed totally in succession.1.The researcher firstly defined the basic concepts of traditional science and technology,science and technology education,and kindergarten curriculum,and then carried out a literature review from three aspects: the research of traditional science and technology,kindergarten curriculum in the field of science,and the integration of traditional science and technology into institutionalized education,made a related review on the literature,and finally raised the research question.2.The researcher explained the value of traditional science and technology education for children.First of all,traditional science and technology have important cultural values and are valuable traditional cultural heritage resources,which contain the cultural context of children's science and technology learning and are conducive to enhancing children's perception to and understanding of traditional cultures.Second,traditional science and technology have important humanistic values and contain deep humanistic ideas with "harmony between man and nature,control technology with the morals,and people first" as the major content,which are full of care for people and have a strong humanistic atmosphere;thus,it is helpful to cultivating children's scientific and humanistic spirit.However,the humanistic nature of children's spirit makes the education of children fundamentally a kind of education of human culture.Third,traditional science and technology have important scientific and technological value,which helps to develop children's scientific cognition ability.Children's science is quite similar to the ancient science,and children can engage in ancient-level scientific activities as ancient adults.Traditional science and technology exploration activities can help children acquire direct scientific experience.The development history of traditional science and technology shows the history of science and has the narrative qualities,which creates the scientific inquiry context for children and helps to cultivate children's scientific feelings,scientific attitudes and scientific methods.3.The researcher comprehensively analyzed the current situation of the integration of traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum by conducting questionnaire surveys on 578 first-line kindergarten teachers from ten provinces and cities,including Chongqing,Sichuan,Yunnan,Guizhou,Zhejiang,Guangdong,and Jiangsu,and in-depth interviews on 20 selected preschool teachers.At present,the traditional science and technology education for children and its development value and functions have not been properly implemented,and the main constraints are that teachers do not understand the traditional science and technology and its value and believe that it is difficult and lacks of necessary educational resources and social support to organize related activities.The integration of traditional science and technology into kindergarten curriculum faces three major difficulties: the traditional science and technology education for preschool children and its development value have not been given due attention;the traditional science and technology system is extensive and profound and difficult to develop into suitable curriculum resources;the teachers' cultural quality in traditional science and technology and ability in science and technology education are urgently needed to be improved.4.The researcher constructed an implementation program for the integration of traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum.The program construction for the integration of traditional science and technology into kindergarten curriculum should adhere to the curriculum value orientation of humanistic care so as to construct a scientific curriculum with the cultural self-development ability.The construction of the target system should attach importance to cultivating the scientific culture and attitude of young children,pay attention to exploring the scientific method of learning,increase the scientific knowledge accumulation of young children based on their life and experience,and maintain the internal unity of scientific attitude,scientific method and scientific knowledge and experience.In terms of the content selection and design of curriculum,traditional science and technology contents that are close to young children's life and experience,and the thematic content organization forms should be selected.The learning ring science teaching mode should be adopted for the implementation of the curriculum.The curriculum evaluation should be a pluralistic evaluation that respects the subjectivity of young children.5.The researcher applied the theory to practice and implemented the action research on the integration of traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum.With the kindergarten in Chongqing as the practice site,the researcher determined the thematic activities such as traditional printing and dyeing techniques,paper-making and printing,secrets of light and shadow,wonderful sounds,traditional machinery and power,silkworms-feeding,etc.,designed the activity programs and conceived the curriculum implementation steps and evaluation & reflection strategies.Based on the description of the implementation,reflection and revision process of curriculum,the researcher analyzed the results of the action research from the perspective of the children's traditional technology and culture learning,and reviewed the research topic and process.6.Based on the understanding of the state's macro-level support system such as the policy of introducing traditional cultures into the campus,teaching materials and classroom and the institutional guarantee,the researcher mainly analyzed the support system of integrating traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum and its operation strategies from the meso-level and micro-level,that is,recognize and attach importance to the education value of traditional science and technology,the improvement of the professional quality of preschool teachers,the optimization of the kindergarten-based curriculum,the active participation of relevant social organizations and the policy guarantee of education authorities.Being interdependent and mutually reinforcing,these five levels form a joint force to build a support system for the integration of traditional science and technology into the kindergarten curriculum together.