A Comparative Research On Middle School Geography Textbook For Nearly 80 Years

Geography textbook serves as the major carrier that students capture professional information and teachers lecture on geography knowledge,which plays an important part in cultivating the geographic literacy of students.The junior middle school geography textbooks include four parts: Earth and Map,World geography,China Geography and Local Geography.Among them,the “territory,population,ethnicity” of China geography are very significant with the characteristics of times and comprehensiveness.Five sets of junior middle school geography textbooks were selected from the 1936 edition,the 1964 edition,the 1987 edition,the 2001 edition,and the 2013 edition,and the differences in these textbooks,such as content selection,content organization,and content presentation,were compared among the “territory,population,and ethnic” sections.Theoretically,inquiring into the trajectory of the development of geography textbooks and the rules followed by the textbooks will provide references for the reform of textbooks in the future.In practice,the advantages of textbooks in different periods will be used to broaden the horizon of geography teachers and improve the quality of geography education.The paper focuses on the following issues:(1)In the past 80 years,five sets of junior middle school geography textbooks have similarities and differences in the compilation of “territory,population,and ethnicity”.Then,what is the basis for the compilation of textbooks in different periods?(2)What is the status and role of the “territory,population,and ethnicity” in China geography?(3)From the surface system of textbooks,what are the commonalities and differences in content selection,content organization and content presentation of the five sets of textbooks?(4)How do the changes in the “territory,population,and ethnicity” parts inspire geography teachers and geography teaching reforms? This study uses time as the meridian,the surface system of textbooks as the comparison latitude,adhering to the five basic texts of textbooks,and takes a method of the combination of logical reasoning and empirical analysis.The paper consists of seven chapters: The first chapter clarifies the reasons for choosing the topic,defines related concepts and research periods,and states the selection process,research ideas,method and significance of the five sets of textbooks.The second chapter summarizes the research status of geography textbooks,comparison of geography textbooks,and comparison of "China geography",and draws on previous research foundations to find research ideas.The third chapter explores the status and role of "territory,population,and ethnicity" in "China geography".Chapter 4 to 6 uses time as the longitude and concretely grasp the changes in content selection,content organization,and content presentation of “territory,population,and ethnicity”.The seventh chapter is a summary of the whole research results,conclusions and inspiration.This study mainly draws the following conclusions:(1)Geography curriculum standard(syllabus)is the guide and basis for the compilation of geography textbooks.(2)The pattern of the composition of Earth and map,world geography,China geography,and Local geography is basically the same in the Chinese mainland in the early 80 s.Regional geography,no matter whether it adopts the order of “macro to micro” or “micro to macro,” or not,the “territory,population,and ethnicity" sections all occupy a fundamental position in China geography.(3)From the surface system of textbooks,the “territory,population,and ethnicity” part is not only closely related to the times in terms of content selection,content organization,and content presentation,but also closely related to the development of geography teaching and the advancement of geography technology.(4)Textbooks in different periods have their own advantages.First-line geography teachers must not only learn from their contemporary textbooks,but also draw lessons from textbooks in different periods in history.