A Comparative Study Of Junior High School Physics Inquiry Teaching Cases

Since the1990s, many countries have been carrying out curriculum reform, emphasizing on scientific inquiry and implementing inquiry teaching. But the inquiry teaching of different countries show different characteristics because of the impact of different cultures and backgrounds. The comparison of the inquiry teaching cases in different counties shows not only the bright spots but also the weakness in classroom teaching. Meanwhile, it represents a useful effort for the inquiry teaching in China.Based on the theory of constructivism, the thesis described the teaching cases of various countries focusing on quantitative comparison from the following three aspects: the classroom structure, the process of inquiry and teachers’behaviors. It was found that the teaching case in Australia focused on students’experiments and the discussion between the teacher and students.The teacher paid attention to the students’experience and created problem situations which came from the real life to initiate students’thinking and discussion. The teaching case in the United States just focused on the students’ experiments. Students’activities were mainly conducted in various forms, while new knowledge learning was not enough. The teaching case of Netherlands focused on class teaching. The main concepts of knowledge were demonstrated through an inquiry experiment, and there were many exercises in class. The teaching and learning activities in Czech’s case were centered on the demonstration of experiments. The content of the class was rich and closely linked with the real life, emphasizing the training of students’abilities on analyzing problems using knowledge in various subjects. China’s teaching case gave students a chance to experience every link of the inquiry process. The class paid attention to students’self-presentation and reflection but students were not given enough time to do experiments.Based on the analysis of the characteristics of physics inquiry teaching in junior middle school, some proposals were put forward for the implementation of physics inquiry teaching in China.1, Establish student-centered class;2, Inspire students’thinking with a string of questions;3, Strengthen students’experiments;4, Link with other objects and the real life closely.