Investigation And Strategy Research On Grade 7-9 Student’s Views Of Nature Of Science Under The New Round Of Science Curriculum Reform

Entering to the 21st century,science and technology have played role and become a key element in the rapid social development and economic growth.Under the effects of economic globalization and information networking,the key to improving national competitiveness in science and technology has shifted from attaching importance to“productivity development level” to attaching importance to “scientific and technological talents” cultivation.These changes reveal the importance of human resources in the strategic layout of national economic and social development.For this reason,countries around the world have to science education as an important way to cultivate national reserve scientific and technological talent,in order to shoulder the important task of sending new strength for the country of the times.Nature of science(NOS)is an important content of science education,and taking the NOS as an important goal of science education has become the basic consensus of the new round of science education reform around the world.In 2022,China officially promulgated the “Compulsory Education Science Curriculum Standards” based on the core literacy of the disciplines,and put forward the concept of NOS and the purpose of developing students’ views of NOS for the first time.It means that NOS will become an important pedagogical content of the science curriculum reform in the next decade,and “cultivating students’ full understanding of the NOS” will become a vital learning goal of science education in China.For this reason,it is necessary to understand the current situation and the developmental characteristics of grade 7-9 students’ views of NOS,and propose corresponding countermeasures to promote their understanding of NOS.Based on this,this paper focuses on the core issue of “grade 7-9 students’ views of NOS” to conduct relevant work.First,sorting and summarizing literature research related to the NOS;Second,analyzing the NOS content in eight science curriculum standards conducted by a textual analysis method;Third,developing and testing of a questionnaire named “Grade 7-9 students’ views of NOS”.Fourth,launching a formal investigation to study of the current situation student’s views of NOS by using the qualified questionnaire.Fifth,proposing corresponding countermeasures according to the formal investigation results.The specific content and conclusions of the study are as follows:1.Based on the review and analysis of relevant literatures to the NOS,this paper reviews the extensive research conducted by domestic and foreign scholars in four aspects:research on the representations of NOS in science curriculum standards;research on the representations of NOS in science textbooks;research on the NOS teaching,and research on students’ views of the NOS.The results show that: NOS education is the general trend of international science curriculum reform;science textbooks are paying more attention to the representations of NOS;explicit-reflective instruction can effectively help students understand NOS;and students’ views of NOS still has much room for development.2.Using textual analysis method,the paper analyzes the NOS content represented in the science curriculum standards used in China,Singapore,Macao(China),Japan,Korea,Hong Kong(China),Taiwan(China),and the United States from three aspects,learning goals,learning content,and learning assessment.The results show that: all of these country or district have put much emphasis on NOS in their science curriculum standard,but there are some differences and similarities in the statements of NOS;the eight science curriculum standards comprehensively present eight dimensions of the NOS,tentative,empirical,observation and inference,creativity and imagination,theory-laden,myth of“the scientific method”,scientific laws and theories,and social and cultural embeddedness of science.3.Based on previous textual analysis results and reference to widely used views of NOS questionnaires with great reliability and effectiveness,a questionnaire named“Grade 7-9 views of NOS” was developed.Taking 345 junior high school students as a sample,the quality of questionnaire was tested from three aspects: items quality,reliability,and validity.The results show that: items quality,reliability and validity of the questionnaire met the measurement standards and could be used in the formal investigation.4.Using the questionnaire survey method,a formal investigation study was conducted in a municipal junior high school in Jingzhou City,Hubei Province.The total sample size of the formal investigation was 854,238 in grade 7,251 in grade 8,and 365 in grade 9.The results show that: grade 7-9 students’ views of NOS were at an uppermiddle level,with development characteristics of incomplete development,insufficient understanding,and unclear types of NOS;no significant differences were found in the variables of “grade level” and “science career expectations”,but found in “gender”,“science and technology activities” and “parents’ education”.5.Based on the results of the empirical study,this paper proposes corresponding countermeasures to improve grade 7-9 students’ perceptions of the NOS in three aspects:preparation before class,teaching during class,and activities after class.Specifically,the preparation stage includes “studying the science standards to make the teaching objectives explicit” and “studying the science textbooks to integrate the curriculum resources”;the teaching stage includes “using explicit teaching to make the NOS explicit”and “conducting a reflective discussion to infiltrate the NOS”;the activity stage includes“organizing science and technology activities to stimulate interests in science” and“making science and technology productions to link theory with practice”.