An Analysis Of "The New Mathematics Curriculum Standard For Full-time Compulsory Education" (for Junior Middle Schools) Within The Framework Of Constructivism

With the wide application of modern information technology in education, the theory of constructivism is now playing more and more influential role in the world. Many educators claim that they carry out their teaching on the basis of constructivism. Constructivism provides principal theoretical basis for middle school and primary school curriculums of many countries, and is the guideline for "The New Mathematics Curriculum Standard for Full-time Compulsory Education" (hereinafter referred to as "The New Curriculum Standard") of our country as well. However, within the framework of constructivism theory, there exists divergence of views. And there are few researches on the integration of these points of views from an educational practice perspective, and on further discussion and analysis of The New Curriculum Standard, which is closely related to the realization of the objectives of the new curriculum. This thesis evaluates some trends of the theory of constructivism, and tries to integrate them in accordance with modern mathematical education theories and practice. Based on this attempt, "The New Curriculum Standard"(for Junior Middle School) is discussed from the perspective of mathematics curriculum, mathematics teaching and mathematics learning. The findings are: As far as the choice of teaching content is concerned, a basic principle in "The New Curriculum Standard" is to put an emphasis on the formation and application of knowledge; and as far as the organization of teaching process is concerned, the basic principle is to strengthen students' ability of autonomous exploration, cooperative communication and positive construction. In order to respect students' cognitive ability, this author suggests decomposing knowledge and reducing difficulties. Some requirements and measures mentioned in "The New Curriculum Standard" do not serve its objectives, and are sometimes contradictory. Some concepts such as "situation teaching", "positive construction" and "re-creation" are especially stressed in constructivism theory, but cannot be applied indiscriminately in mathematics teaching and learning. A better solution is "competency-based instructing system" and work out measures to suit local conditions. The curriculum structure advocated by "The New Curriculum Standard" needs further discussion and improvement. This thesis also analyzes the content and organization of BJNU-edition textbook, and points out strongpoint and problems in it.