Research On The HPS Background Of American Two Reforms Of Science Education

This essay is mainly on two reforms of scientific education. After the World War II, the United States has proceeded a reform scientific education on a large scale in order to keep the international status as a country with strong economic strength. The first reform began from the fiftieth of the twentieth century to the middle of the seventieth of the twentieth century, and the launch of the first Manmade Satellite of the former Soviet Union led to the large-scale scientific education. The main feature of the reform was the modernization of the scientific course. The second reform began in 1985 and American Association for the Advancement to Science started a new state plan about the reform of scientific technology——2061 project as a prelude. 2061 project is a trans-century,multi-phase reform plan of scientific education with the aim of "science for all" so as to raise the science literacy of all Americans ,especially the juvenile students.From the perspective of HPS (the abbreviation of the History,Philosophy and Sociology of Science) ,the experience and lessons we obtained from the two reforms of science education in USA was two aspects between the positive and the negative . The result of the first reform which began in the fiftieth of the twentieth century wasn't satisfactory and one of the reasons was lack of the latest theory guide. Although the philosophy of science had achieved a large development in that time, the guide thought of the reform was still a traditional scientific view based on the foundation of the logicism. The reason lies in that the development in the philosophy of science and science education didn't interact with each other and the new theories and new arguments in the philosophy of science were not observed in the reform. The direct thought of the second reform was constructivism, It is founded on the new scientific view which based on the modern development of HPS. The scientific education directed by the new scientific view stressed students' subjectivity and constructivity during their learning, and paid attention to cultivating the scientific exploratory spirit, All the contents mentioned above had a great significance to students on developing right view of nature of science and cultivating scientific literacy. This reform also regarded HPS as its major content. All of the experience and lessons mentioned above deserved our study.From the angle of HPS, there is some deficiency in the second reform. This essay analyzes the important education method——scientific inquiry. The philosophical base of scientific inquiry is constructivism. Because of the deficiency of constructivism, it is always ignored by science teachers to make students grasp scientific knowledge during the educational activity. It is incorrect obviously. From the perspective of Lakatos, the grasp of scientific knowledge is as important as the cultivation of research ability and scientific spirit, and the two points shouldn't be abandoned.Out of the consideration of reality meaning, the arrangement on the content mainly focuses on the second scientific educational reform.