From "Being Neglected" To "Being Seen":A Case Study Of The Impact Of The New Local Curriculum On "Students With Learning Difficulties"

In recent years,influenced by the urbanization of education in rural schools,rural students are learning content that is detached from their daily lives,and rural students are increasingly alienated from the countryside,which to some extent affects the overall development of rural students.In order to provide rural students with an education more suitable for their development,some rural schools have developed and implemented the New Local Curriculum.Based on local life,the New Local Curriculum combines local natural resources,human resources,and living resources with students’ cognitive experiences for curriculum development and practice,advocating the subjectivity of student learning and focusing on students’ individual differences in order to achieve the development of students’ higher-order thinking and social-emotional abilities in various aspects.However,rural schools that currently offer the New Local Curriculum have not systematically analyzed and summarized the effects of the implementation of the New Local Curriculum.The impact of the New Local Curriculum on students,especially on students with learning difficulties and how it affects students with learning difficulties remains to be studied and discussed.In order to analyze the impact of the New Local Curriculum on students with learning difficulties and the reasons for the impact on students with learning difficulties,the researcher used the case study method as the main research method and selected nine students who have difficult in learning from School Z in County A of Sichuan Province according to the principle of purposive sampling as the research subjects.The researcher used participant observation and interview methods to collect rich research data.Firstly,by organizing and analyzing the research data,the researcher clarified the basic situation of School Z and the implementation of the New Local Curriculum,and extracted four major implementation characteristics of the New Local Curriculum.The implementation characteristics of the New Local Curriculum included the student-centered curriculum concept,the curriculum content based on local life,the “teaching-doing-integration” curriculum implementation method,and the diversified curriculum evaluation method.Secondly,by sorting out the characteristic of each of the nine students who have difficult in learning,the researcher concluded that the common school life dilemma faced by the students with learning difficulties were “being neglected”.At the level of the self,their life portraits are: self-exile when they are unable to change their learning status,silent suffering when they are ignored and abandoned by teachers in the classroom,extreme denial of self under the surface of optimism,and the lack of recognition from others in interpersonal communication.Next,the researcher analyzed the changes that occurred in the students with learning difficulties inside and outside of the New Local Curriculum.These changes were mainly in learning performance,classroom experience,self-evaluation,and interpersonal relationship.The New Local Curriculum improved the learning performance of the students with learning difficulties,provided different classroom experience for the students with learning difficulties,raising the self-awareness of the students with learning difficulties,and promoted the relationship between the students with learning difficulties and their teachers and classmates.And then,researcher investigated the reasons for the impact of the New Local Curriculum on students with learning difficulties from four dimensions: curriculum design,curriculum content,curriculum activity format,and curriculum evaluation method.The core mechanism by which the New Local Curriculum can have an impact on students with learning difficulties is that they are “being seen”.Specifically,the design of the New Local Curriculum is based on students’ perspective,which stimulates the vitality of students with learning difficulties;the content of the New Local Curriculum is closely linked with life experiences,which gives opportunity to the student who have difficult in learning cross the “cognitive gap”;the diversified activity format in the New Local provide opportunity to the student who have difficult in learning to develop different potentials;the diversified curriculum evaluation method of the New Local Curriculum allows students with learning difficulties to gain affirmation and recognition and increase their self-confidence.Finally,researcher reflected on the study itself and the shortcomings of the researcher herself,and provides practical guidance for the construction and improvement of the New Local Curriculum,and points out the direction for the development of students with learning difficulties.