Bing Wei

Rationale and Approaches for Embedding Scientific Literacy into the New Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum in the People’s Republic of China

Taking the recently released Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum (JSSCC) in the People’s Republic of China as a case, this paper approaches the issue of how to realize the idea of scientific literacy within a secondary school science curriculum. Subject matter and its companion meanings were used as the framework to explore the embedding of scientific literacy. Two methods were employed in this study: document analyses and interviews with key informants involved in designing the new JSSCC. From the analysis of the curriculum documents relevant to the JSSCC, it is evident that the idea of scientific literacy has been reflected substantially in the new JSSCC. The embedding of scientific literacy can be explained with reference to sociopolitical background and the national curriculum policies at the macro‐level, and to the roles played by chemistry educators, in lieu of academic chemists, at the micro‐level. This paper provides an example of curriculum reform in which principles associated with scientific literacy are embedded in the formal curriculum.

In Search of Meaningful Integration: The experiences of developing integrated science curricula in junior secondary schools in China

This paper is about the process of developing integrated science curricula at junior secondary schools in the Peoples’ Republic of China in the past 20 years. The history has witnessed two stages of developing integrated science curricula during this period in China: one was at the provincial level in the 1980s/1990s, while the other was at the national level in the new millennium. Using the concept of curriculum emphases, this paper purported to investigate the advocated forms of integration and the reasons and causes behind them in integrated science curriculum during the period under study. Data were collected from two sources: curriculum documents related to the integrated science curricula, and interviews with key informants who were involved in designing the official documents of this kind of science curriculum. Two models of integration have been identified from the two stages respectively: one is ‘integration within science subjects’, while the other ‘integration beyond science subjects’. The social–political roots of the two models of integration have been traced. To meet the goal of scientific literacy, it is suggested in the final part of this paper that the model of ‘integration within science subjects’ should be abandoned while the model of ‘integration beyond science subjects’ should be advocated in the process of developing integrated science curriculum.

An Experienced Chemistry Teacher's Practical Knowledge of Teaching with Practical Work: The PCK Perspective.

We have examined an experienced chemistry teachers pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teaching with practical work in China. Based on the well-known PCK model by Magnusson S. J., Krajcik J. and Borko H., (1999), Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching, in Gess-Newsome J. and Lederman N. G. (ed.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge: the construct and its implications for science education, Boston: Kluwer, pp. 95–132, we focused on how the participants teaching orientations and relevant contextual factors shaped his practical knowledge of teaching with practical work. Data from multiple sources were collected and analysed over one semester (four months), including interviews, direct classroom observation, textbooks and lesson plans. Three conclusions were drawn from this study: (1) the participant held multidimensional and mixed science teaching orientations, (2) the participants science teaching orientations shaped his knowledge and beliefs about students’ learning and the instructional strategies related to practical work, and (3) contextual factors exerted great influence on his PCK.

Exploring science teachers’ perceptions of experimentation: implications for restructuring school practical work

ABSTRACT It is commonly recognised that practical work has a distinctive and central role in science teaching and learning. Although a large number of studies have addressed the definitions, typologies, and purposes of practical work, few have consulted practicing science teachers. This study explored science teachers’ perceptions of experimentation for the purpose of restructuring school practical work in view of science practice. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 87 science teachers at the secondary school level. In the interviews, science teachers were asked to make a comparison between students’ experiments and scientific experiments. Eight dimensions of experimentation were generated from the qualitative data analysis, and the distributions of these eight dimensions between the two types of experiments were compared and analysed. An ideal model of practical work was suggested for restructuring practical work at the secondary school level, and some issues related to the effective enactment of practical work were discussed.

School Science Teaching and Learning in Macau: Problems and Challenges

Science teaching is an important part of schooling in Macau, yet it has long been neglected by international education researchers. This chapter attempts to analyze the following issues concerning science teaching and learning in this special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China: school-based science curriculum, science textbooks and their uses, science teaching methods, science learning environments, and students’ attitudes to science and school science. The data used in this chapter were drawn from an evaluation project of science education in primary and secondary schools in Macau. In the last part of this chapter, the features of science teaching and learning in this region are identified and discussions conducted on whether these features are beneficial for the purpose of achieving scientific literacy.

Implementation of Standards-Based Curriculum by Chemistry Teachers: From Curriculum Materials to Teaching Practice

As we know, a large number of the standards-based curriculum materials have been developed around the world. This paper aimed to explore the degree to which the standards-based senior secondary school chemistry curriculum materials have been implemented in the classroom in China. This study was based on the premise that the interaction of the teacher with the curriculum materials determines what happens in the classroom. A multiple case study was employed and five chemistry teachers in four senior secondary schools participated in this study. Classroom observations and interviews were used as research methods to find the degrees of discrepancies between the operational and intended curricula at the three levels of “teaching objectives,” “teaching strategies,” and “teaching activities.” The data analysis revealed that distinct discrepancies existed between the operational and intended curricula among the five cases. Furthermore, for the three levels, “teaching objectives” exhibited a smaller degree of discrepancies, whereas “teaching activities” presented a larger degree of discrepancies, with “teaching strategies” being between the two. The implications of findings and the suggestions for further studies were discussed in the last section of this paper.

The Post-Mao Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum in the People’s Republic of China: A Case Study in the Internationalization of Science Education

Using the case of the Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum (JSSCC) in the People’s Republic of China, this paper addresses the issue of internationalisation of science education in a developing country. The focus was on the change of the JSSCC during the period from the late 1970s to the present. Data were collected from two sources: curriculum documents related to the JSSCC, and interviews with the individuals who were responsible for designing the JSSCC during the period under study. International influences on the four versions of JSSCC during the period were analysed in the four themes: socio-political climates, influencing factors from the abroad, the ways the international influences were exerted, and constrains by the national conditions. And finally, problems and issues involved in the international of the JSSCC were discussed