Research On The Realization Of The Integration Function Of Undergraduate Capstone Courses In American Research Universities

In recent years,with the rise of the literacy-based curriculum concept,the society has begun to attach importance to developing students’ ability to solve practical problems by comprehensively using the knowledge they have learned.However,in order to achieve this goal,it is necessary to reform the curriculum system dominated by sub-disciplinary courses,and to strengthen curriculum integration.In the field of higher education,the United States was early concerned about the lack of curriculum integration.Faced with such problems as the fragmentation of knowledge caused by excessive division of disciplines,the fragmentation of curriculum system caused by narrow professionalism,and the difficulty for undergraduate graduates to meet the higher requirements put forward by employers,the academic community of higher education in the United States has developed the capstone course.The course is a comprehensive course offered at the end of the undergraduate career to integrate the various knowledge and abilities that students have learned in the past.The purpose of this study is to explore how the integration function of capstone course can be realized.It can be seen from the literature review that the capstone course encounters three problems when exerting its integration function: first,it is difficult to integrate multiple categories of knowledge across the discipline boundary;second,it is difficult to integrate theory and practice;third,it is difficult to cultivate qualified teachers.In response to the above problems,this study focuses on the core question of "How to exert the curriculum integration function of the undergraduate capstone courses in American research universities" and adopts the case study method to select the capstone course of Princeton university as the case.The university’s capstone courses are mainly in the form of thesis and independent research.In this study,literature analysis is used to classify and sort out various policy documents and student manuals issued by Princeton university.The study is organized from four dimensions: content,subject of implementation,approach and effect.This study finds that the content of the integration of thesis and independent research courses in Princeton university mainly includes the integration between courses and the integration between theory and practice.The implementation subject is: school,college and instructor.The way of implementation is as follows: the school has established various special institutions and carried out various projects to enrich the way of curriculum integration;The college has built a platform for the promotion of curriculum integration.The instructor has provided a process guarantee for curriculum integration.The effect of implementation is to promote the integration between courses,promote the integration between theory and practice,and enhance the interaction between teachers and students.This study finds that the contribution of Princeton University undergraduate thesis and independent research in solving academic problems is: when faced with the problem of lack of qualified teachers in curriculum integration,the special institutions of Princeton University has formed a team of experts from different disciplines background,providing guidance in the form of teamwork in order to make up for the ineffectiveness of the instructor’s personal counseling.When faced with the problem that students’ theory and practice are difficult to integrate,the consultants or instructors of the school’s special institutions will usually guide students in the form of suggestions how to apply the theory they have learned to practice.When faced with the problem of difficulty in crossing discipline boundaries to achieve integration,schools and colleges create interdisciplinary communication opportunities for freshmen from different disciplines so that students can enhance their interdisciplinary understanding and integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines.This study draws the following enlightenment from the process of implementing the integration function of the undergraduate capstone course of Princeton University: In order to solve the problem of inappropriate timing of undergraduate thesis opening in Chinese universities,the "two-step" strategy adopted by Princeton university in curriculum setting can be used for reference.In view of the problem of lack of guidance due to the shortage of teachers in Chinese universities,it is recommended that Chinese colleges and universities can provide assistance to students by creating special institutions that accommodate instructors with multi-disciplinary backgrounds;In view of the lack of guidance caused by the inattentive attitude of instructors,it is suggested that Chinese colleges and universities improve the mechanism for restricting and supervising instructors.