A Comparative Study Of Exploratory Experiments In Chinese And American Junior Middle School Biology Textbooks

Biology is an experimental science.It is important to change the way of student learning and improve scientific literacy by carrying out the inquiry-based experiments in biology teaching in Junior middle schools.Textbook is the medium of education and teaching activities between teachers and students.Available inquiry experiments set up in biology textbook is the insurance for teachers and students to carry out inquiry experiment teaching.From the actual situation of biology teaching in China,the result of inquiry experiment teaching is not as good as we expected.Besides looking for reasons from teachers,experimental conditions and other possible reasons,improving textbooks is also a way to improve teaching status.The theory and practice of inquiry teaching in the US has been at the leading level in the world.The analysis of inquiry experiments in its biology textbooks can provide references for ours.From the general process of scientific inquiry,the inquiry experiment in the Biology Textbooks of China and America was analyzed though the method of literature analysis,comparative analysis,statistics and other research methods,combined with cognitive development of junior high school students and constructivist learning theory,finally put forward some suggestions for improvement on the shortage in the biology textbook of our country.This paper is divided into five parts,the main contents are as follows:Chapter one,the background,related notions and the theoretical basis of this research were introduced.The previous studies related to comparative analysis of different biology textbooks were discussed,then put forward the necessity of this study.Chapter two,the determination of the research program.The objective,contents and methods were briefly introduced.Chapter three,the specific analysis and comparison of inquiry experiments in biology textbooks of two countries.Firstly,the inquiry activities in the textbooks of two countries were briefly introduced from a macro perspective.After the introduction,the inquiry experiment in two sets of textbooks was deeply analyzed from six aspects: putting forward questions,making assumptions,collecting evidence,drawing conclusions,expressing and communicating,discussing and further exploring.Chapter four,the typical inquiry experiment cases of the two textbooks are selected in order to illustrate the results of the third chapter.Chapter five,the conclusion are obtained and some relevant suggestions are put forward.The characteristics and advantages of the inquiry experiments in the two sets of textbooks are summarized.It also provides some suggestions for the important of inquiry experiment in Chinese biology textbooks.From the whole point of view,two sets of textbooks in both countries have set up lots of inquiry activities in different forms and levels for teachers and students.In the setting of inquiry experiments,compared with the American textbooks,the openness of Chinese textbooks is higher,and the space for students to play a role is greater,but it also causes the problems of lack of guidance.the following suggestions are put forward to improve the inquiry experiment in the textbook of biology of China:(1)appropriately increasing the number of observational experiments and simulation experiments;(2)providing appropriate guidance for students to explore questions;(3)providing more "support" for students to make assumptions;(4)setting up a variable questions to provide students with more opportunities for the transfer of inquiry process and conclusions;(5)promoting the expression and communication of students in many different ways.