Ai Wei And Scientification Of Education In Modern China

The Scientification of Education movement in the first half of the 20 th century is the catalyst and important milestone of the transformation from traditional to modern education in modern China.It is reflected in the fact that science laid a solid foundation for his study on education,and scientific methodology was applied in researching and solving practical problem in education,which led several educators embarked on the road of scientific exploration of education.Ai Wei(1891-1955),as an active advocate and loyal practitioner of education scientification,led an extraordinary life path both as an educator and a psychologist,leaving abundant academic heritage worth studying for later generations.Ai Wei pursued scientification of education all his life.He firmly believed that "scientification of education" played a vital role in the development of Chinese education.In the process of exploring the scientification of education,his educational thought and practice always focus on the scientification of education.First of all,he took educational psychology as the starting point and vigorously promoted the application of psychology in school education.He compiled and translated foreign masterpieces on educational psychology,carried out academic research on educational psychology,especially on children’s psychology,followed the forefront of foreign educational theory,and provided a relatively solid psychological foundation for the scientific movement of education;Secondly,he applied scientific research methods in his study and advocated the use of observation,experiment,test measurement and statistics as research tools.He published teaching materials and books,adapted self-made test scales,implemented tests,established norms,and tried to construct an experimental based educational theory system;Thirdly,his executed his study revolved around subject psychology with scientific research methods,devoted himself to subject psychology research for a long time which resulted in fruitful research results in multi-disciplinary fields such as Chinese,English and mathematics,and implemented the scientification of education step by step from the micro level.Based on the theory of educational psychology,Ai Wei used scientific research methods to solve the practical problems and promote the transformation of Chinese teaching theory from philosophical speculation to empirical research,enhancing the progress of the scientification of education in China then.Through literature analysis,historical research,interview,combination of macro research and micro analysis,narrative and theoretical analysis,this paper demonstrates Ai Wei’s lifelong pursuit of education scientification,introduces the origin and logic of his ideology in this field and reveals his academic research and educational experiments.The research of Chinese educational thought would be enriched to certain extent by the objectively evaluation on Ai Wei’s social status,contribution,influence and contemporary value in the process of education scientification in modern China,for it could vividly and truly demonstrate the scientification of modern Chinese education from macro to micro perspective.Ai Wei’s research on the scientification of modern Chinese education has left many reflections and enlightenment to future generations: psychologization of education,emphasizes that the central position of students in education and deeply explores the law of the physical and mental development of them;scientification of educational research methods,makes full usage of modern scientific research achievements,and explores effective ways for the development of China’s new education;in the process of promoting the scientification of education,it is necessary to not only introduce foreign advanced educational ideas and methods,but also take root in the soil and conditions of Chinese education,constantly exploring and writing a new chapter of Chinese education.