Research On The Design Of Middle School History Textbooks Since The 1980s

Under the theoretic guidance of pedagogy, psychology and history, this thesis attempts to study the design of middle school history textbooks which have been published since the 1980s. The main methods used are literature analysis, horizontal comparison and historical study. The thesis includes five parts:In the first part, the thesis introduces the research background, objectives and approach.In the second part, the thesis gives a brief account of the development of the design ideas of the middle school history textbooks, and then studies them from the viewpoints of pedagogy, history and other areas. The thesis puts forward further that, since the 1980s, the development of the design ideas of the textbooks including three relatively independent stages has been affected by national elementary educational objectives, history research conditions and other factors.In the third part, the thesis analyzes the design content of the textbooks, involving (1)the change of proportion of political history, economic history and cultural history, (2)the change of proportion of ancient history, modern history and contemporary history, (3)the historical personage and (4)the national problems. The research indicates that, since the 1980s, the design content of the textbooks has been gradually rationalized, including the humanities spirit and the citizen consciousness of the textbooks' content having been strengthened.In the fourth part, the thesis accounts and analyzes the structure of the textbooks' content and style. The thesis' conclusion is that, since the 1980s, there are some explorations to the structure of the textbooks' content and style, which bring about the optimization of the textbooks' structure and the increase of the textbooks' teaching function.In the fifth part, based on the analysis of the shortcomings of the textbooks' design ideas, content and structure, the thesis puts forward some tactics of improving the design of the textbooks, and forecasts the development of middle school history textbooks' design. The thesis' viewpoints are as follow: (1)the design of middle school history textbooks has not break away from the tie of history discipline, (2)the content of the textbooks is specialized, (3)the design of the textbooks should base on the students' study and establish the concept of the students' all-round development, (4)the design content and structure of the textbooks should conform to and advance the development of the students' mentality, (5)the textbooks should really be students' studying books.