A Comparison About Implementation Of The Ntegrated Practical Activity Curriculum In China And Japan

As the light spot and difficult point of the new round of curriculum reform in China, integrated practical activity curriculum has drawn a lot of attention from researchers since it was accepted into new curriculum project. It has produced numerous researching results in the theoretical discussion and explanation, but at the same time it has aroused questions from curriculum researchers, and doubts from education practice. In Japan, the comprehensive study time with the purpose of developing "survival capabilities" has been set all over the country since2002. Along with the comprehensive implementation of "comprehensive study time", questions and criticism about "relaxed education" also appeared in Japan. The Japanese government has re-examined and reflected on the "relaxed education", adjusting the education reform ideas timely. And the national courses of study has been revised and improved by the Japanese government in2003and2008.In the curriculum reform in the new century, both countries keep their eyes on the "integrated curriculum". As an old saying goes,"there are other hills whose stones are good for working jade." China and Japan are close neighbors who share both distinctive characteristics and similarities in culture and education. Different as they are nominally, integrated practical activity curriculum and "comprehensive study time" are the same in essence. Therefore, a comparative study between them is meaningful.Based on the situation of the implementation of those practices in China and Japan in the last decade, this study analyzes the practice of the curriculum of the two countries, focusing on the way and perspective of reflection. It provides some available experience for further development of our country’s integrated practical activity. Structurally, this paper is divided into five parts. The introduction part raises the theoretical and practical meaning of the whole paper by discussing the selected topic, and then it introduces the research methods on the basis of defining the related core concepts and summarizing the current situation of study in this field. The second part mainly analyzes the background factors of practicing integrated practical activity curriculum in China and Japan from the perspective of economy and education. The third part analyzes and compares the present situation of implementation of the curriculum in both countries. The fourth part analyzes the effectiveness, problems and reasons of the curriculum in the two countries, and the scholars’ reflection on it from different countries. The last part gets the inspiration for the practice of our country’s integrated practical activity curriculum based on all the analyses above.