|
向导教学法初探【英译】 Of Teaching As A Guide By Zhang Jun jie [Abstract] It is only by means of giving full play to the function of teaching as a guide that students’ initiatives in realization and practice can be established. The trial teaching project of Jiangsu Oilfield Technical School in the latter half lf 1980s proves the feasibility of the thought on teaching as a guide. Thereby, the four elementary steps come into bing: self-studies, self-inspection and revision , argument and discussion, induction and summarization. [Keyword] guiding, initiative, independent thinking, mutual help, studying. [Brief introduction of the author] Junjie Zhang, a university graduate, born in November 1944, is from Nanzhen County, Shanxi Province. He was engaged in educational research in 1963, and afterwards served successively as a middle school teacher, a chief-in-teaching, a director of training section etc. In 1998,he was assigned to draw up the experimental program of guiding instruction in Jiangsu Oilfield Technical School after he had left the Yangzhou Petrochemical Factory, Jiangsu, where he was in charge of the staff training. He initiates “a thought of educating guidance to promote the comprehensive quality education”. Address: G#101 Jiangsu Oilfield Technical School. Hongze, Jiangsu. Post Code: 223125 Tel:0514-6742791(home), 0514-6740397(office) Translator Jiao Tong Tel:0514-6740809(home) Ding Zhiyun Tel:0517-7411755(home) Our educational goal is the full revelation and development of students’ potentialities, which can only be obtained and provided that they act, under their teachers’ direction, as an active element in the whole of the teaching process, Therefore the key to quality education lies in teachers’ help as a guide , students’ initiatives of their own and their establishment as an active element. To realize these, an educational project was carried out in the Tech college Of Jiangsu oilfield in the late 80s. It was organized and directed by the politics Teaching Office with the Intention to form the methodology of teaching as a Guide. The project began with the experiment in Physictech(物技) class. 2 grade.88 and then extended to more Than 20 classes , proving the feasibilities of the thought on teaching as a guide. The following is the experimental process in brief: Learn to get the priorities right. That is: a) to evoke a great zeal for knowledge so that students will engage themselves in the studies on their own Initiatives; b) to create a learning environment in which the appeal for knowledge is easily cultivated. It demands that a teacher understand his or her students thoroughly, have various forms and methods, and be capable of determining a proper cross-section where students can easily relate text to practice. Do everything to see that they have a fresh and visual feeling. For example, we encourage our students to raise questions through contrasting the facts, and draw out the theme through discussions or examples, keep them in a tense suspense that drives them to a great enthusiasm for learning. We also take them out of the college compound for a contact with the realities and invite professional men concerned to give lessons from their own experience. All the efforts result in an arousing hot atmosphere in which to foster their initiatives naturally. Arousing this way the students are not only get better-informed of the key points and their aims, but strongly motivated as well. What follows is to provide helpful tips to ensure that the students have no trouble going on readily with their self-study. Teachers are expected to make a natural and close connection between the nearest knowledge developing point and the new lessons being worked on. Supplement of relevant knowledge, illustrations of abstract concepts and reference books and instruments are necessary. Since the background of each student differs from one to another we provide personal help tips in class and advocate help exchange after class. There are arrangements for students to inspect and urge each other, and compare the assessments of their results in self-studies. Chances are offered to show achievements and standards are set up for self-inspection and improvement. At the same time teachers collect feedback by which to make a teaching plan for the next step. With regard to how to reveal the results of self-studies, we have consulted with teachers and students, tried to benefit from many others’ experience, improved repeatedly on the reform experiment, and consequently there has formed a relatively whole and steady pattern, ie.: the self-study outline including three parts , A. Concept; B. Question; C. Thinking. Concept part is designed for freshly introduced terms and key expressions. Question part for various points of view and basic knowledge presented in text; Thinking part for difficult questions and independent opinions. When guiding students to a start of self-study in a unit, teachers are expected to introduce the whole structure for learning and working methods, along with the maximum or minimum demand on the outline. The demand varies with the improvement of their learning ability which is, as a rule, not very good at the initial stage, and therefore should be limited to a reasonable quantity until they become able to make an efficient analysis and generalization of the checkpoints in their lessons. Then the number of questions needs contracting. At this stage students are required to collect, select and classify material to fill in reading cards for writing essays. In their essays the statements in text is required to be presented in an easy way that they can be seen related to realities and practice. To alleviate their burdens, all that students need to do is to make a brief summary of the checkpoints on concepts and answers to the questions or note down in their self-studies outlines the number of page in which the answers can be found, just as an index does in a book and it is very convenient for revision and search. As to how to give a test, our practice is a combination of blackboard Inspection on a random sample of students in a class and self-inspection on the rest of them. A teacher writes 4 groups of questions on the blackboard. Each has 4 or 5 questions. Four students chosen by random sample answer them on the blackboard by showing the numbers of pages where they think the answers can be found. They may bring their outlines for reference. Each of the rest does the same in a piece of paper. Having finished the questions They correct their answers together by teamwork and score each other’s work. A test conducted this way makes it known to students how well they have mastered the knowledge so that they form an objective assessment about their work in self-studies and got benefit from each other is advantages. If a student fails the blackboard test, another chance is offered to make up for the cost scores, which is not only intended to reduce the cheating motives but also encourage him or her to go ahead. For the knowledge points that tend to be easily misjudged, we raise these orally as questions. Students are allowed with their textbooks open to answer them by a deductive re-cap or just showing where the key points are. It is a good chance of practicing for the improvement of their oral expression. Ability should be cultivated in the process of gaining knowledge. So it is necessary that students try their best to connect theory with practice in realities so as to use it to explain the social phenomena and solve practical problems. We have various forms of practicing to improve ability, ie.: lecture, reply in a argument, discussion, contest , occasional essay writing and investigation. We often hold seminars to the distinguishments of right and wrong. It proves an effective form of cultivating love of knowledge and spirit of exploration. A teacher writes on the blackboard 10 statements for students to judge right and wrong. These statements are somewhat confusing but related closely to text and social realities. Students are encouraged not only to consult with each other for the benefit from mutual discussion, but also to think independently and be active in exploration keep with adherence to and compliance with the truth. Each student is required to find out a basis on which to form his or her own judge. Then discussions are held in groups. Each group is naturally formed by students of two rows next to each other. In discussion, opinions should be presented with evidence and reason. A teacher encourages students to express themselves freely, and directs them to think about an issue from several sides and perceives the nature through surface. At the end of a discussion one student is chosen by random sample from each group as a representative to judge right and wrong on the platform. It often happens that their opinions are so strongly opposed to one another that they drive all the students to great enthusiasm which get them highly concentrated. On major controversies we first allow students to vote by raising their hands, then demand independent judgement. As truth is sometimes in the hands of the fewer people, it is not sensible to go with the main stream especially as far as scientific matters are concerned. We make sure that revealing arguments and full reasoning exist in agreement with mutual respect, and that there be no arbitrary conclusion and forced to obedience. When at last the right conclusion is recognized by all the groups they are overwhelmed either with cheerful pleasures or convinced admiration. With their experience of using head and hand and mouth in the activities orientated to the connection between theory and practice, and also on the basis of a general grasp of the teaching points, students can be guided to the revision of the whole unit through these steps: 1) spotting the inner-links between knowledge points; 2)drawing diagrams to show knowledge branches; 3)generalization of the typical types of mistakes; 4) finding out causes of mistakes and solutions to them; 5) itemizing favorable an unfavorable examples and charting them for comparison. This way the students get their knowledge systemized and deepened to such an extent that they thoroughly understand the inner-relations between different disciplines. To put it in a nutshell, during this experimental reforms, we made repeated improvements on methods by benefiting from many others’ advantages, restored students’ right to gain knowledge through their own exploration and at last obtained the goal of our thought on the guided education. We have basic classroom stages to follow: the self-study under teachers’ direction; testing and revising; judgement exercises and generalization. In 1992 ,we had tests and investigations on 2 classes of Oilfield Tech(井技).90.,The quantity assessments of knowledge and ability in 10 facets showed that the average score from the new reformed methods was 2,54 times that from the old traditional one. Since the introduction of the methodology of teaching as a guide, our students have had an obvious increase of ability in analysis and generalization and they think highly of it and praise it all round. The experimental report has been submitted from the college to the ED Department of Jiangsu. The methodology we applied in the experiment is, of course, not a fixed model. It needs improving and enriching. Actions should be guided according to circumstances and methods should be varied with text and lesson, from person to person. Still in our probing stage, we are eager for the understanding and support from every walk of life, especially the assistance and cooperation from our fellows in the educational circles to make the reform experiment go in a deeper and bigger way. 03/08/1992 in Hongze
|
|
|
