A Comparative Study Of High School Physics Textbooks Based On The Nature Of Science

Studies from domestic and foreign scholars show that middle school students have shallow understanding on the nature of science(NOS).However,gasping NOS is a major objective for physics teaching.High school physics textbook is a basic education resource,and the present status of the presentation of NOS in textbook plays an important role in student ' s understanding of science essence.At present,studies on the present status of NOS in textbook are few,and studies on the present status of science essence in physics textbook are even fewer.Therefore,it is essential to make a scientific research and analysis on the present status of NOS in physics textbook of high school in China.Not only can it enrich studies in this field,but also provide some bases for the selection of teaching materials by education departments in various regions.This study selects five editions of compulsory textbooks currently used in high school as study subjects,and makes statistics and analysis on the present status of the presentation of NOS in them.On the basis of the reference to lots of literature,this text carries out the statistics and analysis on the present status of the presentation of NOS in five compulsory textbooks with regard to Scientific knowledge,Scientific research and Scientific enterprise.The major conclusions this study make are as the following: 1.Presentation frequency of NOS's three aspects is ranked from highest to lowest: Scientific enterprise(424 times),Scientific knowledge(387 times)and Scientific research(371 times).2.Among feature presentation in three aspects,the feature that appears most in scientific knowledge is “Creativity”(144 times)and the feature that appears least in it is “Limitation”(30 times);the feature that appears most in Scientific research is “Positivity”(98 times)and the feature that appears least in it is “Skepticism”(21 times);the feature that appears most in NOS is “Connection to STS”(196 times)and the feature that appears least in it is “Ethics and morality”(20 times);In Scientific knowledge level,the feature in Education Science press edition appear most and the feature in Shandong Education Press appears least;in Scientific research level,the feature in different editions appears in similar frequency,and the feature in Educational Science press edition appears most;In Scientific enterprise level,the feature in Shanghai Science and Technology Press appears most and the feature in PEP edition appears least;4.through statistics and analysis on sixteen features of scientific essence,“Predictability” and “Limitation” in PEP edition and Guangdong Education edition in scientific knowledge are under-represented,so is “Skepticism” in scientific research and “Ethics and morality” in scientific cause;“Limitation” in scientific knowledge,“Skepticism” in scientific research,and “Ethics and morality” in scientific cause are under-represented in Shanghai Science and Technology Press and PEP edition;“Accumulation”,“Limitation”and “Predictability” in scientific knowledge,“Skepticism” in Scientific research and “Ethics and morality” in Scientific enterprise are under-represented in Shandong Education Press;In the later compilation of textbooks,some science essential content need to be supplemented into each edition of textbook pertinently.