Advanced Placement Courses: "A Bridge Of Thought" From High School To University

Advanced Placement Courses are freely available for high school students offered by the U.S.College Board in high school while the degree of difficulty is equivalent to the academic standards and academic proficiency of the initial stage of university.Advanced Placement Courses are a series of courses whose aim is to build the bridge of thought from high school to university,with academic courses as the basic knowledge,with creative learning as the practical way,and with promoting the development of learning subject's thought as the educational goal.As a successful example of linking secondary education with higher education,Advanced Placement Courses are like a fleeting glimpse of the jungle of course reforms.After more than sixty years of baptism and irrigation,they have transformed from the original course “young saplings” to a “towering tree” with mature system,complete configuration and comprehensive setup.In this unfinished journey,Advanced Placement Courses have experienced the ups and downs of American secondary education reform,witnessed the positive exploration of American curriculum reform,and made significant contributions to the connection between American secondary education and higher education.Therefore,the author deeply explores the historical context and curriculum system of Advanced Placement Courses and taps the reform experience and inherent value of Advanced Placement Courses,so as to provide a reference for the improvement of Chinese Advanced Placement Courses and to better serve the vigorous development of Chinese education cause through perspective of foreign curriculum reform.This research mainly adopts Literature Research Method,Case Study Method,Comparative Research Method and Historical Research Method,which can be divided intofour parts: historical retrospection,current situation outlining,characteristic and challenges,as well as Chinese enlightenment.In order to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the materials,this paper has consulted and collated a large number of foreign documents and Chinese materials.Based on the birth background and development process of Advanced Placement Courses,it aims to trace its historical development context in a specific background.Then,the implementation status of Advanced Placement Courses is explored and the characteristics and challenges of Advanced Placement Courses are clarified.Finally,based on China's national conditions and American experience,it can provide reference for the improvement and perfection of Chinese Advanced Placement Courses.In order to understand today through the ancient,the first section makes a overall historical review of the birth background and development process of Advanced Placement Courses.Driven by the dual factors of the international background of the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union and the domestic background of the decline of American education quality,Advanced Placement Courses have undergone a magnificent development process of more than sixty years,which are mainly divided into three stages: germination period,developing period and mature period.In addition,the international influence and academic contribution of Advanced Placement Courses are briefly summarized.The second part is the core content of this paper.From the four perspectives of curriculum objectives,curriculum content,curriculum implementation,and curriculum evaluation,it describes the current situation of Advanced Placement Courses,excavates the essential features and ideas of Advanced Placement Courses,and displays thoughtful,academic and forward-looking courses which are authentic and lively.As Advanced Placement Courses,the objective is to cultivate critical literacy and educate modern citizens;the course content is mainly composed of spiraling “big ideas” to integrate subject knowledge;in the implementation of the course,it incorporates rich and detailed guidance into the cultivation of students' thinking skills,including the selection and use of course materials,detailed guidance of teaching strategies and the training of students' thinking skills;the evaluation objects,evaluation standards and evaluation methods are diversified in curriculum evaluation.The third section,from the perspective of the researcher,calmly summarizes thedistinctive characteristics of Advanced Placement Courses and the challenges they are facing.Its characteristics include a bridge of thought across the curriculum gap between high schools and universities,the diversity of curriculum settings to expand students' rights of choice,decentralized governance to fully guarantee the autonomy of colleges and universities,and the establishment of a strong support system by College Board.The challenges it faces include the prominent negative effects of exam-oriented education,the doubts about the fairness of higher education and the decline in the quality of elite education.The last part is the practical value of this study.Based on the implementation of Chinese Advanced Placement Courses and Combining the successful experience of Advanced Placement Courses,it tries to provide ideological references and practical guidance for Chinese Advanced Placement Courses,mainly focusing on several aspects such as high school-university connection,course operation guarantee,assessment mechanism reform,and teaching staff's training,etc.