Research On Connectivism:a Learning Theory Of The Digital Age

In the digital age, The rapid development of technology, especially the computer network Technology Infiltrated in all aspects of our social life, has restricted our style of thinking, communicating and living. Comparing with the previous, Many important changes occurred in the way of people learning, such as half-life of knowledge shorten from decades to eighteen months; Lack of information into overload; someone’s life will step into various fields of knowledge, but it is impossible to traverse all the knowledge, life-long learning becomes even more necessary; Learning pathways diversify, Informal learning is more and more important; Organizations and individuals are learning organisms, they influence each other......Prior learning theories tend to focus on the learning process inside the mind, while in the digital age, Many learning processes now can be undertaken and supported by technology(memory, storage and retrievaling), Prior learning theory can not fully explain more and more complex learning phenomena in the digital age, faced with the challenge of the times.Canadian scholar George Siemens proposed connectivism learning theory, based on chaos theory, network thinking, complexity theory and self-organization theory. It is known as the "digital age learning theory", because it is a new learning theory, We have to think about that Whether it can be called a new theory, Whether it is competitive, what is its impact on education etc.After the literature review, the author found that domestic and foreign researchers have done a more in-depth research on connectivism, but they all focused on online learning (distance education), Lacking research on its relationship with the primary and secondary science education as a viable learning paradigm, and Lacking research on application of massive open online courses,as well as lacking the discussion about whether connectivism is a learning theory from a philosophical perspective.Therefore, this thesis is based on the digital background and qualitatively discussed the connectivism and its application on science education classroom learning. The purpose of this paper is to promote the understanding of connectivism learning theory and expect to indicate the direction of development of learning theory in the digital age.At first,the author reviews the origin and foundation of connectivism, and then sorts out the main ideas and principles of connectivism and compares traditional learning theory. It shows how it challenges and expands our understanding of" how, why and when learning occurs ". The author also provides and analysis the actual cases of how to apply the principles of connectivism and its impact on science teaching, and introduced in line with the current digital age characteristics of learning strategies and ecology teaching strategies. Finally, the author presents a brief end suggestions for future research.Overall, this paper mainly do the following work:(1) Further consideration connectivism translation based on predecessors;(2) Combing the main ideas and principles of connectivism, and comparing with other learning theories;(3) Selecting the foreign authoritative cases of connectivism applied in science education practice;(4) Discussing the connectivism MOOC and its new development in the open science education.(5) Philosophical reflection on connectivism learning theory and evaluation. Connectivism provides an ideological framework that can impact how practitioners design and develop instructional tools for science education courses.The framework helps to ensure students remain current by facilitating the building of active connections, utilizing intelligent social networking and encouraging student-generated curricula. Connectivism allows the future of education to be viewed in an optimistic, almost utopian perspective, as individuals co-create knowledge in a global, networked envmonment.