A Comparative Study On The Nature Of Science In Chinese And American High School Physics Textbooks

Strengthening students'understanding of the nature of science (NOS) is the key of improving their scientific literacy. It is an important period for students in middle school to form their view of NOS. In addition, textbooks, as important tools of students' learning and teachers'teaching activities, also play significant roles in the formation of view of NOS. This research, through a contrastive analysis of present situation of NOS in Chinese and American textbooks, aims at enriching the research of NOS in our country and guiding Chinese textbook reformation. Therefore, this research both has theoretical and realistic significance.This thesis introduces international background of NOS and defines NOS firstly, which provides theoretical foundation for this research. Then, it reviews the evolution of philosophical connotation of NOS and the studies of NOS at home and abroad for further explaining NOS. Thirdly, it compares the present situation of NOS in physics textbooks published by People's Education Publishing House (PEP) for senior high school with American Physics:Principle and Problem and makes an analysis of this comparison. This thesis makes a quantitative statistical analysis of NOS from knowledge, exploration and enterprise aspects by mainly using content analysis method; in addition, it makes a qualitative analysis of content of NOS in those two textbooks. In the latter analysis, different dimensions of three aspects of NOS are compared and two ways—verall and local are involved.From the evaluation and analysis of PEP physics textbooks and Physics:Principle and Problem, the author gets some findings as following:Firstly, generally speaking, the frequency of NOS's present in PEP physics textbooks is higher than Physics:Principle and Problem. According to content analysis, present situation is in direct preparation to physical history. Physical history could reflect different aspects of NOS; it is an important element for cultivating students'view ofNOS.Secondly, from the scientific knowledge perspective, the present frequencies of PEP physics textbooks are all higher than American textbooks from six dimensions. PEP physics textbooks pay much more attention on the presentation of scientific knowledge; on the other hand, Physics:Principle and Problem puts emphasis on the presentation of knowledge's formation process and "understandability" dimension,and PEP physics textbooks put emphasis on the "accumulation" dimension. The "relativity" dimension's presentation in these two textbooks is mainly performed from three aspects: the relativity of scientific theories, the relativity of scientific concepts and the relativity of scientific knowledge caused by the limitations of experimental instruments.Thirdly, from the scientific exploration perspective, the present frequencies of "creativity" dimension of PEP physics textbooks are lower than American textbooks. PEP physics textbook pay much attention on "positivism", on the other hand, American textbooks puts emphasis on "creativity". There is difference about the presentation of exploration existing in these two textbooks. The contents about scientific exploration in PEP physics textbooks mainly focus on that scientific knowledge which has already been confirmed; on the other hand, American textbooks are centered on situation and technique, and pay much attention on knowledge's development process. The "creativity" dimension in both two textbooks is mainly reflected in the following aspects:the creation of research methods, the creative reformation of research materials, the cultivation of students' abilities of explaining various possibilities, etc.Fourthly, from the scientific enterprise perspective, the present frequencies of "science and technology", "identities of scientists" and "scientific community" dimensions in PEP textbooks are higher than American textbook. In addition, PEP physics textbooks put the most emphasis on "identities of scientists", especially on scientists' discoveries, it concerns scientific humanistic feelings. However, American textbooks pay the most attention on "science and technology", which makes American textbooks much more innovative and closer to students' daily lives than PEP textbooks. In addition, American textbooks put emphasis on scientific undertakings' ethic aspect and scientific knowledge's positive effect on society.