A Comparative Study On The Current Curriculum Standards Of Primary Schools In Ontario And Ontario, Canada

As the symbol of measuring national comprehensive strength, science and technology are becoming more and more important. In response to the needs of new era, countries around the world put more emphasis on science education to constantly promote education reform. Science curriculum standard is the guiding and programmatic document of science courses. It is necessary for us to learn from some western countries since our science education seems to lag a little behind. Canada ranks highest on science education. Ontario, Canada’s economic and political center, has a relatively developed education and a particularly improving science education. After ten years implementation of the science curriculum standards issued in 1998, the latest revision came out which is relatively mature and is well worth researching and comparing. This comparative study is helpful to strengthen the understanding of science education and curriculum, and to better grasp the nature of education science. It is hopeful that the excellent achievements could help broaden the vision and ideas of science curriculum reform of China, and further promote the development of science curriculum and curriculum standard.A method of literature retrieval is used to understand the historical background of science curriculum establishment between the two countries. Then, a brief analysis is made, combined with the mainstream of today’s science and education development. Accordingly, based on the curriculum standard texts of China and Ontario as the research object, textual analysis and comparative method are adopted to make an quantitative and content analysis of the texts of the curriculum standard in a objective and systematic way, from perspectives of the arrangement of the course frame, the basic idea, course objectives, course content and course evaluation. The similarities and differences between the two countries will also be revealed. At last, some reflection and suggestions about amendments to China’s science class are proposed:Local participation should be enhanced during curriculum standards revision. A integral curriculum should be designed to promote the cohesion of course objectives, content, evaluation, and the core concepts of science should be extracted to guide the whole curriculum. The science curriculum content should be increased in low grades, and the curriculum objectives and content arrangement of different grades should be set separately; The understanding of the nature of science should be strengthened. Scientific inquiry should be further improved and implemented, with great importance attached to the cultivation of critical thinking; Emotional attitudes and values in the curriculum standard should not be listed alone, with more attention paid to special students and variant education. We should enhance science safety education, improve students’ environmental literacy. We should clarify its function of multiparty roles, refine and reinforce curriculum evaluation.