Reflections On Developing And Improving Studies In The Secondary School History Textbook

Basic education in China is at an important stage of innovating and transforming. The axis of curricular reform in basic education lies in updating the present textbook system into a new one for the 21st century. The secondary school history textbook is among many issues deserving to be explored in the educational reform for the time being, and its reform forms part of historical curricular and pedagogical reform and would play a substantial role in whether the latter will success. Being the most important teaching resource in secondary school history education, the history textbook is both a basic means of teaching history for the teacher and a major instrument of learning history for the student. There is no question about the importance of the history textbook that is a significant ingredient of the teaching material system of secondary school history curricula. Therefore, it is indispensable to review studies over the last two decades in the history textbook in order to improve its compilation and use.This thesis includes there parts as follows.Part â…  surveys the present state and developmental tendency of studies in the secondary school history textbook, through a statistical analysis of articles in this field. It needs to be noted that the emergence of a certain scholarly circle is closely connected to the evolvement of times and social demands, and that the development of a certain academic domain usually would undergo a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. An increase in the number of articles in this domain is primarily necessary. In accord with the numerical accruement, the choice of related subjects is to be broadened. All this would culminate in a progress in quality of researches that are increasingly deepened. This is also the case with studies in the secondary school history textbook over the last two decades in China.Part â…¡ is a review of the contents of articles written by historical educationists on researching the secondary school history textbook. The objects of these current researches can be classified into such categories as elucidation of theories, analyses of contents, pedagogic cooperation, comparison and evaluation, and edition and illustration, and each category is analyzed and commented. In my opinion, as far as studies in thehistory textbook are concerned, theoretic studies have borne their first fruits, prosperous fruits of practical studies have been reaped, and comparative studies are increasingly deepened.Part III offers reflections and suggestions on how to widen and promote studies in the secondary school history textbook. It may be argued that Chinese historical educationalists are supposed to further studies in the secondary school history textbook by enhancing theoretic researches on the compilation of history textbook, extending the realm of study, recruiting academic staff, and improving approaches of research.