A Comparative Study Of The Essence Of Science In High School Physics Textbooks

To improve students’ understanding of nature of science (NOS) has been an important goal of basic education. As important education resources, high school physics textbooks can certainly help students understand NOS. To understand the degree of NOS which shown in various versions of physics textbooks, we need to make an accurate assessment. Currently, there has not been much studies about NOS shown in textbooks, especially in physics. Therefore, the study of present status of NOS in high school physics textbooks can not only enrich the research in this area, but also provide a reference for the preparation of high school physics textbooks, besides, it can also provide the basis for the local education departments to choose physics textbooks.This paper studies presents status of NOS of two editions of high school physics textbooks, which are respectively published by PEP and Shanghai Science and Technology Press. The main work include following aspects:1. Through literature analysis, the author summarized the relevant theory and research achievements of present status shown in the textbooks;2. Taking existing studies abroad as basis then analyze the present status of NOS shown in high school physics textbooks;3. The author analyzed and compared the present status of two versions of high school physics textbooks in three levels which include Science knowledge, Science research and Science enterprise.This study has got the following conclusions:1. We can rank the three aspects of NOS as "Science enterprise","Science knowledge","Science research" according to the frequency which has been shown in physics textbooks.2. In Science knowledge level, the frequencies shown in the two versions textbooks are close. We can rank them as "Creativity","Cumulation"/’Uniform","Limitation","Predictability","Tentative" according to the frequency shown in physics textbooks. In the aspects of "Cumulation","Creativity","Uniform", the frequency shown by the textbooks published by PEP is more than the textbooks published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press. In the aspects of "Temporary","Predictability","Limitation", the frequency shown by the textbooks published by PEP is less than the textbooks published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press.3. In Science research level, the frequencies of the two versions textbooks are respectively193and165. We can rank them as "Positivitat","Publicity","Subjectivity","Creativity","Inferential","Doubt" according to the frequency shown in physics textbooks. Among them, the textbooks published by PEP show more in "Positivitat" than the textbooks published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press, but less in "Publicity","Subjectivity","Creativity", and "Doubt", in "Deduction", the frequency of the two versions of textbooks are same.4. In Science enterprise level, the frequencies of the two versions of physics textbooks are respectively226and287. The frequencies shown by the textbooks published by PEP are less than which published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press in all four aspects. We can rank them as "Contact between STS","The role of scientists","Science Community","Ethics and morality".5. From the view of the frequency of Single connotation of NOS, the aspects which were shown most include "Contact between STS" and "The role of scientists" in Science enterprise,"Creativity" in Science knowledge, and "Positivitat" of Science research. The aspects shown least include "Temporary" in Science knowledge,"Doubt" in Science research and "Ethics and morality" in Science enterprise.6. From the view of the presents status of NOS in a single textbook, the two editions of textbooks which show more NOS in Science knowledge both include required book1, required book2, and elective book3-5. In Science research, the two versions textbooks show more NOS both include required book1, required book2, and elective book3-5. In Science enterprise, the textbooks published by PEP which show more NOS include required book1, elective book3-4, and elective book3-5, the textbooks published by Shanghai Science and Technology Press which show more NOS include required book1, required book2, and elective book3-5.