The Research Into The Structures And Functions Of The Students' Physics Auxiliary Books In The Junior Middle School In China

The teaching materials are the important curricular resources in the teaching and the learning of the physics in the junior middle school. People attach great importance to the compiling, using and theoretical study of teaching materials. However, the degree of the emphasizing on the teaching materials' realm is unbalanced. The textbooks always get much more emphasis than the auxiliary materials, and few researches involved in the auxiliary teaching materials. The shortage of study results in the uncertainty about the true status of the auxiliary teaching materials so that people can't offer instructions for the usage and compilation of them. What's even worse, in some degree, the teaching material theories just concentrate on the textbook theories but lack integrate contents.On the contrary, the usage and compilation of students' auxiliary teaching materials have been highly valued in practice. Some people even exclaim that there are such many materials that they have overrun the needs. So it is clear that we should carry on some researches on the auxiliary books because this kind of research has certain theoretical values, applied values, and realistic significance.This thesis tries to investigate the structure and function of the auxiliary books of physics in the junior middle school in our country.First, based on the literary study and inquisition, this thesis defined the student's auxiliary books , revealed some important features of the auxiliary books. Meanwhile, the definition nails down the object and scope of this research.Second, the research endeavors to build up the analytical framework concerning about the structure and function of the auxiliary books. Among them, with regard to the structure of the auxiliary books, I agree to the concept which defines the teaching material structure as the disciplinary organized-form of the elements and components in the teaching materials. And I also think that an obvious exterior characteristic of the auxiliary books is that it is composed of different columns with special functions, and the contents and the teaching design, or things like that, within each column then constituted the more microcosmic structure of the column. Therefore, from the outside characteristics, the relation among different columns forms the surface structure of the auxiliary books. It is the clue of this research.As for the function of the auxiliary books, this thesis noticed to recognize them from several aspects when analyzed, for instance, pay attention to the anticipant functions, and the potential functions in the process of the compilation, and the actual functions in the education practice; notice the functions as the independent teaching materials or the auxiliary teaching materials in the students' learning activities; pay attention to its positive functions as well as its negative influences. In addition, combining with the demand of the new curriculum, we care a lot about the function in the change of students' study methods.Guided by the framework of the above-mentioned structural and functional analysis, we mainly surround the functions of auxiliary book to carry on the systematic inquisition in the clue of the auxiliary book column by the methods of text analysis and student's questionnaire survey and with the interviews of pedagogical theorist, compilers of the auxiliary books, teachers, students and so on, which includes: (1) The column setting, structure and function of the students' auxiliary book systemThis thesis has investigated the compiling of physic auxiliary books of grade three in the junior middle school by adopting the method of dividing the samples by layer to select 186 bookstores in three cities. This research discovered:The students' auxiliary books provide 16 kinds of contents with different qualities; each of them has its own specific functions. Besides, these contents are mutually connected and thus constituted an organic and integrated body which offers help for the students in their learning activities. According to their content attributes and their directional study activity nature, we generalized these columns and their functions, including:The students' auxiliary books take notice of prompting study objective, helping students prepare for the new lessons. By illustration, models and relative exercises or activity training, they help students understand and stabilize textbook's knowledge content, physical thought way and the process and method about exploration. Of course, the auxiliary also take notice of providing conference keys to the offered exercises or activities which are convenient for the students to correct themselves; besides, the auxiliary books take notice of providing conference keys to the relative exercises and activities in the textbooks, as the students' feedback information. They also help the students summarize the physical knowledge and method, prompt them reflect on themselves' study procedure, provide direction on study method, prompt examination demands to help students adapt the exams, provide extensive information to broaden students' field of view; moreover, the auxiliary books also pay attention to setting up preface columns to lead the students to take notice and acknowledge of their auxiliary books.However, the frequency of each column's use is very different. According to the use frequency, they are arranged in order as the followings: exercises drills and reference keys, preface, example explanation, study objective direction, textbook knowledge explanation, study method guidance, examination guidance, explorative activity design and guidance, summarize, physical thought way generalization, knowledge expansion, teaching preparation, reflection and self-evaluation forms, textbook exercise keys.The dissimilarity reflects the position and value of each column and component of auxiliary books in the eyes of the compilers, which shows some embodiments of the system structure and functions of the auxiliary books.Besides, we also analyzed the use of small columns under each column and conducted tests on the significance of the difference.Finally, we summed up the types of the auxiliary books from several viewpoints and standards. (2) The case study of the compiling characteristics and functions of the students' auxiliary bookFrom several influential auxiliary books, we select 8 of them as sample books to analyze the texts deeply according to the analytical category. On the basis of describing and generalizing the compiling characteristic, we analyze the potential functions and limitation. And we reached the following conclusion:The majority of the auxiliary books take the movable system like "explaining- illustrating-training- testing" that constitutes the core frame of the auxiliary books. So the other columns are subordinate to them correspondingly in the position.The compiling quality of each column demonstrates lots of difference. We find that some columns should realize the anticipant functions because they have been elaborately designed, but some columns' qualities are not quite high so that it is difficult to reach the expected functions, and several columns can not realize the anticipant functions at all.Overall, as far as the attributes of the contents, most of them are reading and comprehensive materials, conclusive knowledge or information, but not any activity guides or tools. In addition, lots of them are suitable for the students to review and reinforce what they have learned, while those facilitating previewing and self-teaching are very limited. There are so many praxis training that they are inefficient to instruct students to carry on inquiry activities or broaden the students' reading. Thus, there is no doubt that such content arrangement will impose negative effects on what and how the students study. In the guidance of such study materials, the students' learning activities will predominantly do some reading, understanding and exercise trainings according to the content of the textbooks.Most of these column contents closely encompass the textbooks', which means few of them surmount and parallel the contents of textbooks. Therefore the auxiliary books mainly should be accessory materials for the textbook.What's more, I have invested to find that the auxiliary books are not entirely prepared for examinations. In other words, their main functions are to help the students understand and use the contents of teaching.(This conclusion may vary according to different investigating time. This investigation carried out in the for-term and mid-term. If in the review examination stage, the context of the auxiliary books may vary.) And as far as for the only one auxiliary book, the quantity of the contents is not excessive and will not be a burden to the students. The discovery based on the text analysis and the investigation into the teachers and students are consistent.On the presenting ways, the contents of explaining or presenting the conclusion directly are more than the ones of guiding the students to carry on the construction of correlative knowledge. Some columns pay excessive attention to the knowledge goal, but make no sufficient efforts to improve students' study methods.(3) The investigation into the functions of the students' auxiliary booksA questionnaire survey have been carried on by adopting the method of dividing the samples by layer to select 2468 students in junior middle schools from 3 provinces, and had some interviews with some teachers and students. By investigating their evaluation to the auxiliary books, we can discover the actual function in our teaching practices in China. The investigation indicated that: In the study process, the students put much emphasis on the auxiliary books because they play important roles in the learning activity.However, the students view column functions very differently, which indicates each column plays different roles in practice. We arranged every column in order according to their functions as the followings: exercise, example illustration, knowledge point explanation, physical thought way generalization, exercise or activity conference key, summarize, examination guidance, teaching preparation, knowledge extension, study objective prompting, exploration activity design and direction, textbook exercise reference key, study method guidance, reflection and self-evaluation forms. By testing the significance of difference, I discover that the roles of some column are evaluated with significantly difference by the students of different grades and sexes.Combining the data materials of student questionnaire, interviews, and so on, this research also elaborated the auxiliary books and their roles offered by the teachers and students and correspondingly also briefly concerned the ways that the students use these columns.Moreover, this research also carries on certain comparisons and discussions between the investigation in practice and the discovery of the text analysis, which shows that both similarities and deviations lie in the anticipated functions, the potential functions, and the actual functions of the auxiliary books and its column in three levels. I believe the discovery has revealed the assistance(or deviation) with the book compilation and student's actual needs and the actual service. So it must have certain enlightenment for the compilation of the auxiliary books and their use.This research values the functions of the auxiliary books from the views of the construction of curriculum resources and the teaching materials. And it is taken as vital curriculum resources in the students' learning and the indispensable constituent of the teaching material construction at present and even in a long time in the future in our country.This research initially constructed a frame for structural and functional analysis to the auxiliary books, and has established the text analysis category to analyze the structures and functions of the auxiliary books from many levels and aspects. Not only dose this research discovery have the direct enlightenment and the instruction to the book compilation and the use but also make people have more knowledge about the auxiliary teaching materials and has clarified people's some prejudices. At the same time, it also makes up for the insufficient study for the teaching materials and has enriched their theories.