The Evolvement And Renovation Of High School Physics Textbooks Published Since 1980S

With the development of the society and the progress of the times, the ideas about education and curriculum are continuously being updated, which advances the reform of education and curriculum. Such reform will be embodied in the designing of the textbooks. It is of great significance to study the law of the historical evolvement in textbooks and analyze the causes, which is of important consulting value in predicting the trend and directing the designing of textbooks.By analyzing and comparing the high school physics teaching programs (course criteria) and the textbooks published publicly since 1980s, we can see the ideas of textbooks designing have shifted from knowledge-oriented to student-oriented, focusing on the students' all-round development and the improvement of their science literacy. Consequently, the content and styles of the textbooks also have greatly changed. The content decides what to teach and to learn, which embodies the functions of the textbooks as teaching and learning resources. And the style decides how to teach and to learn, which embodies the functions as teaching and learning tools. From the development of the textbooks designing ideas, designing content and designing styles, we can detect from all sides the law of the historical evolvement in textbooks publishedsince 1980s.With the development of the learning theories from behaviorism, cognitivism, to constructivism and the curriculum theories from Tyler's "4W" theories to Doll's "4R" theories, the renovation of these educational theories provides rich ideas for textbooks designing. Based on these ideas, the physics textbooks designing in the choice, the organization and the presentation of the content should embody the following characteristics: (1) choosing context-based learning content; (2) embodying diversified learning styles; (3) creating conversational space;(4) strengthening the contact between physics content and the real world, and directing the teachers and students to exploit and utilize the curriculum resources.The new experimental textbooks based on the course criterion of 2003 published by Beijing Publishing Company hold a lot of characteristics superior to the traditional ones: (1) adopting science-exploring as an important part of the textbooks' content; (2) paying close attention to the humanism spirit and STS ideas; (3) creating problem contexts to arouse the students' thinking and exploring; (4) guiding the students to exploit and utilize abundant curriculum resources;(5) representing the ideas of developmental evaluation. On the analysis of the new textbooks, the physics teachers can understand the new ideas in the textbooks and exert their functions better.