Study On The Design Of Scientific Method Items In Junior Physics

A curriculum revolution advocating scientific literacy emerged in western countries in1980s. The attention of scientific education has been transferred from imparting knowledgeto teaching scientific methods and developing scientific spirit. China started itsnew-curriculum reform as well in2001. One of the highlights was the proposal of the“process and methods” along with the “knowledge and skills” and “attitude and values”,which embodies the value of scientific methods. In these years of the new-curriculumreform, assessment and feedback are necessarily needed in terms of understanding thecurrent situation of scientific methods and how well students have acquired them. Based onthe arguments above, this essay not only conducts a profound research on the theory ofscientific methods but also suggests a new framework for the evaluation of scientificmethods. Besides, it provides a new orientation to deepen the reform and to promote thedevelopment of both teachers and students.After analyzing the papers related to scientific methods, the author finds the educationof scientific methods was not fully understood by Chinese authorities and many theorieshave not yet been applied into real life. It turns out that most of the teachers lack theknowledge in teaching scientific methods. In addition, there is not an evaluation systemsince scientific method has not been fully studied and the theoretical part is in an urgentneed to be perfected.In this essay, several methods have been used to support the education and evaluationof the scientific methods: Firstly, the definition and classification of scientific methods havebeen completed by doing research of related papers. Secondly, interviews with teachers aremade to ensure the level of the scientific methods. Thirdly, based on the discussion withuniversity teachers about the goals of teaching and the types of items, which suit thescientific method and researching of papers, different kinds of items have been created fordifferent levels of recognition and the analysis will be shown in this essay as well.