Research On The Status Quo Analysis And Improvement Of Junior High School Mathematics Textbook Exercises

With the further deepening of curriculum reform of basic education in China,much more importance is attached to the construction of teaching materials,especially in primary school and junior high school.The National Textbook Construction Committee,headed by the Vice Premier of the State Council,is established,and the revision of the compulsory education curriculum got underway in January 2019.Like textbooks of other subjects,junior high school mathematics textbooks shoulder the important tasks of strengthening morality,practicing the core socialist values,and fully implementing the national curriculum standards.The exercises in the textbook are its important part,playing a guiding role in addressing the focus issues of reducing the heavy workload of students and reflecting the orientation of testing and evaluation system.The ideal textbook exercises should be directed to promote students’ sound and comprehensive development,and help students achieve the key skills and essential qualities needed for lifelong development.To this end,it is necessary to do factual(to-be)researches and ideal(ought-to-be)researches on the existing junior high school mathematics textbook exercises.Thus,we can find out existing problems and empirical data,and propose strategies and methods accordingly for the redesign of textbook exercises,so as to promote the development of junior high school mathematics curriculum under the guiding principle of core competency cultivation.Based on the analysis of and reference to textbook researches and exercise researches at home and abroad,this study conducts the content analysis and the comparative analysis to analyze the “Rational Numbers” chapter in the nine versions of the domestic math textbooks,and the designed exercises for “Pythagorean Theorem”,“Addition of Rational Numbers” and “Mean”,presented at the tenth session of Junior High School Young Mathematics Teachers’ Excellent Class Demonstrations held by the Chinese Society of Education.Besides,900 students’ surveys on their experience of doing the exercises on the “Rational Numbers” chapter of various versions as well as 143 teachers’ surveys of their satisfaction towards current exercises in the textbook published by the People’s Education Press(PEP)and the relevance of textbook exercises to current mathematics test questions in the senior high school entrance examination are also considered,to arrive at a detailed analysis of the status quo of mathematics textbook exercises in China.Through a comparative study of the exercises in the chapter of “Rational Numbers” in the PEP in 1989,1992,2004 and 2012,and the exercises in the section of “SAS Theorem” in the textbooks published in 1993,2002 and 2012,this paper analyzes the reasons for the status quo of the exercises in PEP junior high school mathematics textbooks.On this basis,a framework of exercise designing is proposed under the principle of core competency cultivation,and the exercises in the chapter “Parallel Lines and Intersection Lines” of the PEP textbook are improved accordingly.A verification experiment and a feedback survey of teachers and students in terms of these improvements are also carried out.The major findings and implications of the study are as follows:The current junior high school mathematics textbook exercises are derived from the exercises in the previous textbooks,in spite of their various versions,which shows much more importance to the knowledge,but still needs improvement and creativity.Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,exercise training in various periods has always been regarded as an important part of mathematics teaching.It is regarded as the only way to master mathematics knowledge,develop “ three major abilities(operational capability,reasoning ability and logical thinking)”,and learn mathematical methods.Entering the new century,after nearly 20 years of reform and practice,the design of textbook exercises has been reformed in terms of their objectives,contents,modes of presentation and organizational forms,to ensure that exercise design is an integral part of the overall design of textbooks.However,compared with the changes in the text part of the textbook,the reform in the part of the exercises has not kept up with the pace.For example,the exercises in the widely used PEP mathematics textbooks are mainly derived from the previous exercises by way of expurgation.Therefore,the exercise part and the text part are neither complementary nor mutually supportive,unable to help students extend and deepen their knowledge.In particular,the contents selected for the exercises are still relatively old,not characterized by the novelty and strength that will render students a sense of success in completing them;the scenario design of the exercises is relatively monotonous,being inadequately interesting,illuminating and exploratory;the design of the question series is not adequately hierarchical and open,making it impossible for students to be absorbed in the necessity and charm of mathematics learning.The design of the future textbook exercises must take into full consideration the guiding principle of core competency cultivation and the key competencies in adapting social development.2.Now the construction of textbook exercises based on students’ core competency is in the key period of textbooks’ advancement,which must be released from the shackles of traditional ideas on both theory and practice.(1)The main tendency for the textbook reform is to change its function.Currently,the main purpose of the junior high school mathematics textbook exercises is to enable students to acquire mathematical skills.As a matter of fact,students’ after-class learning is not only the consolidation and application of their in-class learning.More importantly,it is the deepening and sharpening of students’ understanding of the knowledge explored in class.In this sense,after-class assignments are the extension and development of the in-class knowledge and procedures that are not fully understood or adequately reflected upon.Compared with researches into heuristic teaching and variant teaching in China,the heuristic mode and the educational mode of textbook exercise design call for matched researches.Current textbook exercise designing has not fully addressed modern constructive and humanistic teaching modes,and the learning challenges brought about by the rapid development of modern information technology.Textbook exercises ask for more life-oriented topics,open presentation,integration of different subjects and use of modern communication tools.In addition,it is noted that test questions in the two standardized entrance examinations change at a pace that textbook exercises cannot keep up with,which also indicates that the changes of the textbook exercises still lag behind in general.Mathematics textbooks should play a key role in influencing,or even guiding,the large-scale mathematics assessments.(2)It is practicable and reasonable to design the textbook exercises by focusing on acquiring knowledge,improving learning methods,guiding teaching and evaluating competency.To make the reform of textbook exercises have rules to follow,the thesis have designed a frame on the content of the textbooks from three dimensions and twelve concerns to make sure students’ mathematics “double bases” and the relation to students’ life experience will be concerned.The textbook exercises will lead students to understand the new knowledge and then internalized it.What’s more,it will also guide students to do self-reflection and pay more attention to the integration of the subject knowledge and kept pace with the times in situation,which shows the practicability of the improvement.(3)Designing textbook exercises with Chinese characteristics and pluralistic features in different versions is an effective approach to their development.China,with its vast territory,employs various versions of textbooks in different areas,but the current textbook exercises in different versions have similar design mentality behind their seemingly various presentations.Textbook compilers should break away from the stereotyped rigidities of limiting the exercise contents within mathematics only for the sake of evaluating and training.A systematic designing of textbook exercises with pluralistic features should be put in place by integrating and utilizing various resources from the perspective of educating people.