| Physical experiments play a vital role in the teaching of physics—a discipline that is based on experiment in itself. However, examination-oriented education has, over the years, forced schools and teachers to focus solely on the impartation of knowledge, thus undermining the cultivation of students'overall capacity. The teaching of physical experiments is no exception, with poor laboratory infrastructure, few experiment classes, students are given little chance to actually do the experiments, and instead, they are forced to learn the experiment from the teachers'explanation rather than doing them in the laboratory by themselves. In their one-sided efforts to raise the rate of admission into higher schools, schools and teachers have separated theory from practice in the teaching of physics, hampering the development of student's application ability.It is imperative that the teaching of experiments be changed in this new era of knowledge economy where the traditional thought on its teaching is already outmoded. The Ministry of Education issued the Senior High School Physics Curriculum Standard (Experiment) in 2003, and beginning from September, 2003, reform in the curriculum of the senior high schools in accordance with the new standard has been gradually implemented. The publication of this new standard signifies a profound change in the philosophy and method of the teaching of physics in senior high schools. The new standard regulates that:"experiments are an important sector in the reform of physical curriculum", and stipulates that students should learn the discipline through actual experiments and thinking. With more emphasis on experiments, this has tied experiments and other teaching contents more tightly together, thus changing the old method which focuses on the textbook and belittles experiments. In accordance with the new standard, the next step to take would be the compilation of textbooks, which should also embody the ideas of the new standard. Teachers rely heavily on textbooks in their teaching; textbook is thus an important media in the teaching process. Therefore teachers should have a deep understanding of the features, content and presentation of the experiments in the new textbooks so as to display the advantages of the new textbook. This would have a positive role in the teachers'understanding of the new standard, and in promoting the effective and smooth implementation of reform in accordance with the new curriculum standard.The first section of this thesis offers an overview of the development of the teaching of physical experiments in our country since 1949. And on the basis of studies on relevant documentations, a qualitative analysis of the current teaching of physical experiments is made and universal problems in this field are pointed out. Following this, a careful research and interpretation of the new ideas embedded in the new course standard and a renewed recognition of the status and role of the teaching of physical experiment under the new circumstance are made before analyzing the requirements on the teaching of physical experiments made by the new curriculum standard. On this basis, a preliminary comparison on the experiment section is made between the new textbook complied in accordance with the new curriculum standard published by the People's Education Press and its old edition in terms of the type, number, instrument, presentation and features of experiments, trying to exhibit the features of the teaching of experiments under the new curriculum standard. Finally, a tentative exploration into the transformation of teaching philosophy and methods, the application of new teaching techniques as well as traditional means of experiment is made in combination with the current situation of China's physical experiment teaching and its new features under the new curriculum standard. It is hoped that this will of some help to the on-going reform of the teaching of physical experiments under the new curriculum standard.
|
PDF Full Text Request