An Empirical Study of the Effect of Inquiry Teaching on the Development of High School Students'Critical Thinking Under the New Curriculum Standards

The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China has issued three guideline documents to encourage inquiry teaching to help students develop their ability to question,which is a defining feature of critical thinking.Two of the documents have clearly stated that English subject teaching should focus on building students’thinking capacity.Critical thinking is an essential feature of building thinking capacity and a key element of the core competencies the English subject seeks to cultivate.This research measures the performance of students of two high school classes in the exams conducted at the beginning,in the middle,and at the end of the experiment period during which inquiry teaching was applied to enhance students’critical thinking ability.The experiment results show that inquiry teaching can improve students’academic performance in English study and help them better develop their language skills.The implementation of the inquiry design in teaching listening,reading,and writing conforms to the law that governs the development of critical thinking,and the adoption of inquiry teaching can promote the development of critical thinking.

NEW CURRICULUM STANDARDS AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACCUMULATIVE READING —A RESEARCH ON BEIJING MIDDLE SCHOOL PRACTICES

The New Curriculum Standards (NCS) for Middle Schools require students to complete certain amount of English reading as extra-curricular practice at Junior and Senior high levels respectively. Such standards encourage independent and collaborative learning but may pose a challenge to the test-oriented English teaching in China. Pressed by the graduation and enrollment rates, do teachers still care for organizing extra-curricular reading If yes, are the methods they use effective and scientific To answer these questions, our research team conducted a two-year research in Beijing middle schools. The results show that extra-curricular reading has been implemented differently at different levels to different degrees. Some teachers have worked out feasible, successful methods in accord with international practices, some schools are just starting their experiments, and some have not made plans yet. By analyzing the favored organizing and monitoring methods, and evaluating their benefits and limits, this paper hopes to offer some implications to the researchers with the same endeavor.

Vocal Music Education Model Building Approaches under the Background of Music Curriculum Reform and System Renewal

Promulgation of the music curriculum standard has broken through the traditional teaching mode, highlighted the core ofaesthetic and deeply refl ected the music education idea of “human-oriented”. During the teaching, it emphasizes on taking students as the mainbody, paying attention to every student, focusing on equal exchange, communication and cooperation between teachers and students, exchangingstudents’ emotional experience in the study, giving guidance to the students’ learning, and giving credit for the student’s learning. It is animportant part of the higher education system reform to train knowledgeable talents with modern knowledge structure and rich innovation whocan adapt to the modern economic development. It emphasizes on fully giving students space to learn autonomously and develop freely, andfocusing them on practice and the diversity of knowledge structure.

A Study on the Instructional Design of Interdisciplinary Thematic Learning in Middle School Physical Education Based on the CASES-T Model

With the deepening of educational reform,interdisciplinary thematic learning,as an emerging educational model,has become a focus of attention in the field of educational research.Based on the STEM(science,technology,engineering,and mathematics)education concept and CASES-T(Content,Activity,Situation,Evaluation,Strategy-Target)model,this study provides a theoretical basis for the teaching design and implementation of interdisciplinary thematic learning in middle school physical education.Through the analysis of specific interdisciplinary thematic learning cases,it aims to provide theoretical support and practical guidance for the reform of middle school physical education through the CASES-T model-based interdisciplinary thematic teaching design research in middle school physical education,in order to enhance students’learning effects,cultivate core literacy in physical education,and promote students’all-round development.