A Comparative Study Of The Design Of Geography Textbooks For Senior High Schools Between America And China

The design of textbooks, an important part of the new Curriculum Reform, is of great significance to the improvement of teaching, teachers’development as well as students’learning ability. Responding to the new needs and concept put forward in the new Curriculum Reform, this study selects Earth Science:geology,the environment and the universe (a mainstream science textbook in American Senior High Schools) and Geography of the People’s Publishing House in China as its objects of comparison. And through comparing designs of the systems of text, images and assignments, similarities and differences of geography textbooks in senior high schools between these two countries are presented, which provides possible references for our further reform in curriculum.By methods literature review, comparison and case study, the study respectively introduces their general development of the geographic textbooks since their new curriculum reform, and analyzes their own rationales, objectives, core contents, important principles and modes of presentation in a overall point of view. And in following each part, it digs into the similarities and differences in systems of texts, images and assignments in these two textbooks, which can provide preference for further curriculum reform in China.Through an overall and partial analysis, suggestions for improving our geographic textbooks for senior high school can be put forward. First, it should decrease difficulty in content design so as to lighten students’academic burden. At the end of each chapter, there can be more review guidance or summarization about the important knowledge, concepts and principles. Further, more detailed interpretation for pictures should be given for easier understanding. Second, in the image system, it should utilize diverse image types and add appropriate text descriptions in design so that students can better understand the information from those images. Third, in homework design, there can be more homework in diverse types, which emphasizes in improving students’ abilities of independent study, inquiry learning and research-based learning.