New Landscapes In School: Research On The Development Of Chinese School Museums Under The Key Competencies-oriented Policy

In the booming trend of Chinese museum education,school museums are flourishing as new landscapes.This phenomenon is a reflection and an exploration in the social context of constructing "a big nation of learning",and also a new approach towards the competency-oriented learning in the international trend of educational reform.The newly released Chinese educational policy of focusing on the cultivation of key competencies has encouraged educational practices that are happened out of traditional classroom settings.School museums are risen in this social background.There are two characteristics presented by the school-museum phenomenon:first,their appearance is in short time but in large number and in group;second,this is a native phenomenon not affected by other countries.Therefore,the phenomenon of school museums has great value but has not received adequate attention from academic world and policy makers.The contribution of the dissertation lies in both theoretical and practical aspects.The research is surrounded with the key question about the influence of Chinese school museums on the improvement of students’ key competencies development,and is divided into three small questions:What are the features of Chinese school museums?In which aspects do the school museums have impact on students’ competencyoriented learning?How to improve?How could the school museums reach sustainable development from the aspect of students’key competencies cultivation?The research was carried out under the theoretical framework of constructivism learning theory.Research methods include qualitative means such as interviews,field visits,narratives,case studies and content analysis;while quantitative means include multi-level structural equation model for questionnaire data.Comparative research is also carried out.More than 40 schools offered data for either qualitative or quantitative research.The research has found out that school museums were nurtured by the whole social cultural context,which revealed the seeking of educational paradigm change from policy orientation to social needs.To be specific,the shift of the educational paradigm changes towards the competencies-oriented development.Therefore,this research is focusing on the impact of school museums on students’key competencies development.The research has discussed the impact from three angles.The first is about the impact of the roles of school educators on the development of students’ competencies development in the context of school museums.The research has found out that in the context of school museums,principals’instructional leadership can positively predict students’ key competencies with the mediating role of teachers’perceptions of museum instructional mission and school culture;teachers’attitudes toward the instructional paradigm change can positively predict students’key competencies;and the frequency school courses use museum resources can positively predict students’ key competencies.The dissertation has further illustrated this aspect with narratives and summarized the path of school museums’ key competencies cultivation through the educators.The dissertation discussed about the cultural tastes and educational ambition of school principals,teachers and regional leading teachers,which were nurtured by the social cultural environment and has promoted the school culture and the construction of school museums.The second aspect is to explore the design of school-museum-based school curriculum.The researcher discussed the consistency and gap between schoolmuseum-based curriculum design and the key competencies learning goal.The researcher further analyzed the curriculum design of four schools from the Bloom’ s taxonomy of learning domains as well as the usage of museum resources.Suggestions were given after case analysis.The third aspect is about the school museum facilities and resources construction for students’ competencies cultivation.With Hein’s constructivism museum model as theoretical foundation,the paper discussed school museums’ construction features including spatial support,exhibition labels,educational programs,and learning resources as measurement of the constructivism extent and offered suggestions after case analysis.After illustrating the impact of school museums on students’ key competencies cultivation,the dissertation has taken a further step to compare the Chinese school museums and Western school museums.Two cases from the Britain and the U.S.were adopted for comparative research.The researcher has raised the differences of the social background and museum educational concepts between the Chinese and Western school museums.The western museum education model is the "mindexploration model",while the Chinese is the "cultural-immersion model".The research has then offered suggestions for lasting development of Chinese school museums for students’ competencies cultivation.In conclusion,the research has then reached conclusions as follows:(1)Chinese school museums were born in the social context of educational paradigm change,and were nurtured by the cultural context.(2)In the context of school museums,we can improve students’ key competencies through educators’ perceptions and attitudes,curriculum development and museum resource.(3)The Chinese school museums have demonstrated its own features and the "cultural-immersion" educational model,and thus build a path specifically for the Chinese education context.(4)The difference between school museums and other museums as a constructivism learning site lies in the fact that school museums can better support personalized development,and this aspect is the theoretical contribution this dissertation is trying to contribute.