A Study Of The Complexity Of School Curriculum Change

In the process of basic education curriculum reform it often shows some complexity,and the reasons and internal mechanism deserve further exploration.School curriculum change is the foothold of basic education curriculum reform.To explore the complexity of basic education curriculum reform,we cannot do without studying the complexity of school curriculum change.Based on the complexity theory,exploring the complexity of school curriculum change,including the following main research questions.Firstly,analyzing the performance characteristics of the complexity of the school curriculum change.Secondly,summarizing the reasons for the complexity of school curriculum change.Thirdly,putting forward countermeasures to optimize the school curriculum change under the background of complexity.The theoretical framework of this study is established with the two dimensions of"theoretical tools" and "inspecting objects".The philosophical theory of Edgar Morin's complex thinking mode is determined as the theoretical tool.By drawing on Nicholas Reseher's complexity model and Wu Tong's classification of objective complexity,the complexity is divided into five dimensions.The object of this study is:the complexity of components of school curriculum change,the structural complexity of school curriculum change,the procedural complexity of school curriculum change,the functional complexity of school curriculum change,and the complexity of boundary of school curriculum change.This study mainly adopts the case study method to investigate the practice of curriculum reform in a primary school under the background of basic education curriculum reform,and collecting data from two aspects:the schoolbased curriculum development and the development of the comprehensive practical activity course.The main conclusions of this study are as follows.Firstly,the characteristics of the complexity of the school curriculum change can be summed up as the following two points.(1)Different from the classical thinking mode of identity,non-contradiction and the law of excluded middle,taking advantage of the ways of thinking of dialectical logic(duality logic)to analyze the school curriculum change,it shows the complexity of order and disorder coexisting,necessity and contingency coexisting,autonomy and dependence coexisting.(2)Different from the linear causal view which is mainly used in classical scientific thinking,it is analyzed by the nonlinear interaction principle.The constituent elements of school curriculum change form "multiple and heterogeneous",and there are nonlinear interactions between different components.However,due to the stipulation and adjustment of school organization,a dynamic transformation structure of "hierarchical operation",has been formed in the nonlinear dynamic combination of“man”and "affairs".The"output"of school curriculum change and the"investment" of school curriculum change follow the causality of circulation,resulting in "output"and"investment" not necessarily proportional to each other.A small factor can lead to the failure of school curriculum change that involves a large number of manpower,resources and financial resources.Secondly,there are many factors affecting the complexity of school curriculum change,including two kinds of uncontrollable factors and controllable factors.Among them,the uncontrollable factors include the diversity of people,the complexity of the change itself,and the interaction of the internal and external systems.The controllable factors include the existence of the resistance of the main body of change,the lack of the material base of change and the lack of the social support environment.Thirdly,the complexity of the school curriculum change is objective,and there are two kinds of countermeasures to optimize the school curriculum change under the complexity.The first kind is the concrete countermeasure,including the establishment of a sound monitoring system,construction of school curriculum change motive mechanism,improving the living conditions of teachers,and choosing appropriate change model.The other is the more abstract behavior rules that deal with complexity,including improving the reflective rationality and the ability to deal with complexity of the change subjects,and ensuring the diversity of ideas,so as to promote the harmony between the subjects of change and the complexity.The practical significance of this research is to provide strategies for optimizing school curriculum change under complexity,and to give some enlightenment to other schools through analyzing the complexity of case primary school curriculum change.From the theoretical sense,providing a perspective of this research,refining the five dimensions of the complexity of school curriculum change,that is beneficial to enrich the theory of construction of school curriculum change.Through exploring the complexity of school curriculum change,inspiring people to further explore the reasons for the predicament of basic education curriculum reform,and fining the key to promote it smoothly.