| The Science Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)suggests that science teachers should make reasonable use of the history of science and technology materials as curriculum resources to help students understand the nature of science,permeate science history education,and design student-centred instruction.Based on Leite’s "Science Textbook History of Science Content Analysis Checklist",this study conducted a comparative study and innovative teaching case development and teaching practice research on the content of the history of science in grade 5-6 of the primary school "Science" textbook published by Hebei People’s Publishing House(referred to as [Jiren Edition])and the mainstream US primary school science textbook "Science Enlightenment"(referred to as [Mike Edition])in grade 5-6.This study uses documentary analysis to review the relevant literature from the 1960 s onwards,to discuss the background to this study,to identify the research questions and research methods,and to develop the research ideas for this study.It defines the core concepts of the study,such as "history of science" and "view of the nature of science",and analyses "constructivist learning theory","Bruner’s discovery learning theory" and "Mencius’ theory of learning".The framework will be designed to guide the development of the case study,based on the constructivist learning theory,Bruner’s discovery learning theory and Munk Osborne’s HPS model of education.(The framework model is presented in the section on case development)Based on the core concepts and theoretical foundations,a comparative analysis of the amount,type of content,presentation and type of activities of the history of science content in primary science textbooks for grades 5-6 in China and the USA was conducted,taking into account the requirements of the primary science curriculum standards of both countries.(1)In terms of the amount of history of science.The total amount of history of science in the [Mike Edition] is significantly higher than that in the [Jiren Edition];there are significant differences in the distribution of the number of volumes between the two editions,but they both show an increase in the number of volumes as the grade level rises;the number of "detailed" accounts of the history of science in the [Mike Edition] is significantly greater than that in the [Jiren Edition],which enables students to gain an in-depth understanding of the history of science;the distribution of fields in the [Jiren Edition] is more The [Jiren] edition focuses more on the penetration of the history of science in the field of "technology and engineering",and the content is moderately difficult and more relevant to the reality of our students.(2)Content types: In terms of material selection,the History of Science in the [Jiren Edition] focuses more on technological inventions and their applications,which is conducive to the development of students’ STSE awareness,while the [Mike Edition] places more emphasis on the creation and development of scientific concepts and focuses more on students’ learning of basic theories.The content type of "scientist" stories is less numerous and is still lacking from the perspective of humanities education.(3)Presentation: Both editions use a combination of illustrations and text as the main form of presentation.In terms of textual presentation,both editions have a large proportion of’specific sections’,with the [Mike] edition providing links to extra-curricular materials through the ’Literature Links’ section or the ’Writing Links’ section.The [Mike Edition]provides links to extra-curricular materials through the ’Literature Links’ section or the’Writing Links’ section,which helps to expand students’ access to the history of science.The "Science Online" and "Information Cards" sections in [Jiren] provide detailed accounts of events in the history of science,with questions to stimulate students’ thinking and discussion.(4)Activity types: In terms of activity intentions,the [Mike version] focuses more on students’ independent reading of the history of science,while the [Jiren version] focuses more on inquiry-type activities.In terms of activity design,the [Jiren] textbook uses materials from the history of science to guide the implementation of the simulation experiment;the [Mike]textbook introduces the history of science to raise students’ questions,then explains the scientific principles,and finally verifies them through the simulation experiment.Based on this suggestion,as well as the relevant requirements of the theoretical basis of this study on the design model of case course teaching and the 2017 edition of primary school science curriculum standards,the case study method and educational experiment research method are adopted to develop innovative teaching case development and teaching practice research on the fifth grade "Surface exploration" in Hebei Edition.SPSS19.0 software is used to test and evaluate the teaching results.The study found that the experimental class outperformed the control class in the implementation of the four dimensions of the teaching objectives,and that the students in the experimental class had a better overall mastery of the lesson "Exploring the Earth’s Surface" than the control class.Based on the findings of the case study,the following strategies are proposed to further improve the implementation of this case study:(1)use diverse historical resources to enrich basic scientific concepts;(2)present the twists and turns of scientific conflicts to strengthen the cultivation of scientific essence;(3)guide the design of collaborative inquiry to reflect the main theme of discovery learning;(4)synthesize wrap-up activities and deepen the construction of scientific systems. |
