A Study On Biology Learning Interest Of High School Students

The interest in learning biology is the internal motivation for stude nts to explorebiological science proactively. This interest is very important for students, especiallystudents in senior one who are in the transitory stage between junior and senior high school.It is of great importance for improving students’ learning interest, stimulating their learningmotivation and improving their learning efficiency of biology. It can lay a solid foundationof learning biology for the whole period of high school and has great practical significancein enhancing students’ biological science literacy.Grounded on consulting large amounts of information, the author has made aquestionnaire on the interest of senior one students in learning biology and made a samplesurvey among309senior one students in the school. The results indicate that students’interest in biology primarily centers on biological phenomena and experiments instead ofthis subject itself. With the teaching practice and the interview results, the author analyzesand induces the reasons which influence the senior one students’ interest in learning biologyfrom three aspects, i.e. the factor of students, the factor of teachers as well as the factor ofthe subject. The results show that personal learning experience of the students is the mostimportant factor which affects their interest in learning biology. The successful experiencecan effectively improve students’ interest in learning biology, while the failing experiencecan lead large numbers of students to lose their interest in learning biology. In addition, thefactor of teachers, for instance, the influence of the teachers’ personality charm andclassroom art, can influence their students. Besides, factors such as differences of biology between junior and senior high school and students’ physical and mental development arealso important for students’ interest in learning biology.On the basis of this, combining the teaching practice of the author and other biologyteachers, the author puts forward some principles and strategies.1. F ive cultivationprinciples, i.e. the principle of giving priority to students, the principle of respectingstudents’ autonomy, the principle of combining internal cause with external cause, theprinciple of teaching students according to their aptitude, and the principle of gradualimprovement.2. Eight cultivation strategies, i.e. improving students’ interest throughsituational teaching, assessing students through multi-assessment system, cultivatingstudents’ self-efficacy, the teaching strategy of inquiry, the use of concept map, enhancingstudents’ autonomy through cooperative study, cultivating students’ imaginary thinkingability by using modern educational technology, improving students’ autonomy in biologylearning through metacognitive training. Relevant class teaching examples are alsoprovided.All in all, the cultivation of senior one students’ interest in biology learning needs greatattention and in-depth research. It should also be put into practice. Only in this way canstudents lay a solid foundation for their biology learning in the next two years in highschool.