A Comparative Study On The Selected Material Of Scientists And The Image Of Scientists In The High School Biology Textbooks

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China,along with the rapid reform of the society and the continuous development of science,the course of biology in the high school of our country has experienced significant reforms for several times.The adaption and revision of the textbook is one of the key contents in the course reforms,which directly indicates the target of the course and the educational concept of the age.In various times,the words and images related to the scientists have been brought into the textbook more or less.The material of scientists can lead the students to know the process and the method of the scientific study and form a reasonable way of thinking imperceptibly,and it also guides the students to realize the reasonable attitude and personalities of the scientists,establish correct values and change the phenomenon of unhealthy celebrity worship.Besides,the material of scientists directly reflects the connection between the biological science and technology and the society,therefore,it plays a significant role in the editing of the textbook.The objects studied in this topic are the biology textbook published by People's Education Press since the establishment of People's Republic of China till 2019 and the main stream textbook used in American high school named Biology: The Dynamics of Life.This thesis will longitudinally study the historical changes of the high school biology textbooks published by People's Education Press with the methods of literature,comparative analysis,and statistical analysis based on the angle of selected material of scientists and the image of scientist.And also the horizontal comparison between the biology textbook published byPeople's Education Press in 2019 for high school and the main stream Biology textbook in America.Through the study,it is implied that:(1)The amount of scientists appearing in the textbook indicates a trend of first reduction but final increase.After the establishment of the People's Republic of China,the amount of scientists mentioned in the high school biology textbook published by People's Education Press has presented a trend of reducing firstly but increasing finally.After the new round of curriculum reform,the amount of scientists introduced in the textbook has increased obviously.Along with the rapid development of the technology and the continuous reform of the curriculum,in the textbook for high school after 1978,the foreign scientists and the modern scientists have taken up an increasingly rate year by year.In recent years,More attention has been paid to the frequency of Chinese scientists introduced in the textbook.However,the imbalance problem of the male and female scientists has penetrated throughout each version of the textbook.(2)The content and method in selecting the material of scientists have changed from simplification to diversification.Regarding the content,the selection methods of scientists become more and more diversified,which has enriched the content of the textbook.The textbook has paid more attention to the scientific methods and the scientific content,focused on the representative characteristics,reduced the long text about the life span of the related scientists and emphasized the cooperative spirit among the scientists.Regarding the way of presenting the scientists,most of the scientists material appears in the specially designed column.In the column,there are more detailed and various distribution.(3)The creation method of the scientists' image has changed from the simplified introduction of the scientist himself to the overall presentation of the scientist and the enriching connotation of science.As for the creation method of the scientist image,in the textbook since 1952 till 1962,there are character introduction with long text and eulogistic edition,which has a tendency of scientist heroism.Along with the reversion of the textbook,more and more attention has been paid to the contributions of various scientists during the acquisition of a scientific achievement while narrating the history of biology.This to some degree has helped to avoid the potential tendency of individual heroism concept.In contrast with the textbook before,the textbook in 2019 has improved regarding the aspects as the image creation of the scientists and aspects of removing the stereotype impression.It statues the positive image of Chinesescientists one after another in the column of scientist interview.Through the way of interview,the distance between the students and the scientists has been shortened.All of these are a powerful solution for reducing the impression of scientists' stereotype and cultivating the social responsibility of the students.(4)There are commonalities in the two textbooks from China and America,while there are also specialties existing.Trough the comparison of the textbook from China and America,it is found that there are commonalities in the two textbooks from China and America while there are also specialties existing.In the textbook published by People's Education Press in 2019 and the American textbook,many materials of scientists are selected.The content selected and the presenting methods are various.Both textbook from China and textbook from America introduce the achievements of the scientist and some other similar description appears in both.The long narrations of the scientist's life span has been reduced obviously.And it has become a tendency to emphasize the study conclusion and the study process.Regarding the presentation method of the scientist material,most of the scientists' information has been placed in a special column.The textbook by People's Education Press emphasizes on the image creation of the scientists and the rendering of the scientists' spirit.The presenting methods of the scientists material are various.In the textbook by People's Education Press,the content of science history are emphasized.While applying the scientist material to indicate the history of the science,it presents the key events in the research and study process to the greatest extent,which has formed a clear vein.The textbook of America uses scientist material to be more natural and storytelling.It narrates the process and the methods of the scientists' study taking advantage of cartoon and pictures,which is more direct and more interesting.The columns presenting the related scientist material are much more diversifying.A column called Biology and Its History is designed at the beginning of each unit.This column makes Biology cross with the significant events happening in the history with the method of timeline.The experiments designs are more diversifying.Many experiments modules are set to guide the students always to think,observe,experiment and reason like the scientists.In the end,five suggestions are put forward according to the problems discovered in the study:(1)The science exploration and study should be added to the content of scientist material.(2)The content of scientist material should also increase the content of scientific inquiry closely related to real life.(3)The ratio of the female scientists material should beincreased.(4)The position of the ancient Chinese scientists should recover to the important state deserved.(5)In this article,it is suggested that there is a necessity to establish a free resources of scientists material to optimize the lack of the space limitation in the textbook.