A Study On Tao Xingzhi's Thought And Practice Of Life Curriculum

The relationship between education and life has been an avoidable topic in the educational history. Educators have worked on this topic for a long time. In recent years, the idea that putting education close to real life becomes more popular in curriculum theory circles, and thus formed researches on life curriculum. Though Western ideas can provide valuable theory, Chinese senior scholars also offered revelatory theoretical and practical researches on life curricula to us, and Tao Xingzhi is one of famous researchers. This research analyzed Tao Xingzhi's unique and insightful understanding on life curriculum, and investigated the enlightment of his practice of life curriculum in Xiaozhuang Rural Normal School to Curriculum Reform in China today.This thesis focuses on four questions.First, how didTao Xingzhi judge the situation of education in his time?Secon, what was the ideal "life" Tao Xingzhi wanted to approach? Third, how did Tao Xingzhi turn his life into a "course"? Finally, how did Tao Xingzhi implement the "course" he developed? To answer these questions, the thesis is divided into five parts:The introduction part expounds necessities of the study in theoretical and practical aspects, reviews the literatures on life curricula in different periods and presents the paper's research questions, methodology and framework. The first chapter introduces Tao Xingzhi's personal growth experiences, which is to reveal that his experience is necessary for his thoughts on life curriculum. The second chapter sums up Tao Xingzhi's thoughts on life curriculum from three aspects:his views on the situation of China's education in his time, his awareness and efforts to localize Western ideas, and his thoughts on what the life should be. The third chapter presents the practice of life curriculum in Xiaozhuang Rural Normal School by analyzing the school construction, the development and implementation of life curriculum. The fourth chapter elaborates the significance and enlightenment of Tao Xingzhi's life curriculum in New Curriculum Reform in China.