2021年11月17日晚19:00-21:50,SSI-L项目高中组在腾讯会议室举行在线研讨活动,共议各校议题选择与课程实施进展。会议由高中学段负责人、人教社生物室主任谭永平老师主持,学科指导专家,基地校联络人与骨干教师参与了本次研讨。
北京师范大学第二附属中学韩立新老师介绍学校的议题“北京地区是否应该大规模建设太阳能光伏系统”。当今时代能源与环境、能源与经济发展的问题是全世界、全人类共同关心的热点问题。学校项目经过“电磁炮”、“电声弦乐器的制作”两轮课程实施,已经具备一定基础,结合物理课程中的学科知识内容,由物理、地理、政治学科教师形成团队,规划出三个课程任务:设计太阳能路灯系统、光伏电站的前期选址、丰富多彩的光伏应用场景,并将任务拆解为各个教学活动。目前项目已进行制作光控电路、太阳能光伏系统项目蓝图设计等活动,课程末的时候学生将形成自己的作品,并配合电路图进行展示。韩老师展示了学生在项目中期的汇报成果,包括设计太阳能充电滑板、太阳能智能垃圾桶以及对全国各地太阳能光伏系统的建设进行可行性评分。最后韩老师汇报了项目的后续规划,动手搭建太阳能路灯系统、讨论北京地区是否应该大规模建设太阳能光伏系统等活动环节。
北京市中关村中学知春分校王波老师指出该议题跨学科性强,能很好地提升学生的能力。学校已形成了跨学科教师团队,工作开展有计划。在如何对学生进行评价,议题的成果如何体现上存在疑问。韩立新老师回应道,学校目前将议题项目当成学校的常规课程对待,在布置作业、评价作业、考试等环节虽然没有严格要求,但会由学校教师对学生进行过程性与最终成果的评分。
北京市第九中学段长波老师介绍学校的议题“疫病的历史与反思”。学校教师利用暑假的时间梳理古今中外跟瘟疫有关的历史,并进行原创试题设计的尝试。在学科融合上,结合经济学常识、语文古典诗词对疫病的描写等角度让学生了解疫病的历史,包括“黑死病对欧洲历史的影响”;结合文化、文明的概念与理性认识的角度让学生进一步了解中医发展,感知中华传统文化;结合化学、生物角度让学生了解西医近代是如何在中国传播的;结合国家政治制度的角度让学生了解抗疫的最新进展,感知中美抗疫的差异,培养学生的家国情怀。
首都师范大学附属育新学校李萍老师认为议题选择贴合学生生活实际,通过对抗疫历史的梳理已经积淀了一定成果,但是议题的争议点与开放性没有体现出来。北京市第九中学高笑旭老师回应道,新冠肺炎疫情的议题在学校已经开展了一年多的时间,之前主要是从生物、物理、化学等学科角度切入,目前团队吸收了历史与政治老师,期待学生通过对历史的了解与反思,对国家层面发生的重大事件依据国情进行多角度、多方位思考议题。议题并不一定要带有争论性,只要具有一定难度与深度,学生能够针对议题进行深入研究就可以。谭永平老师指出上一年开展的活动如何在新学期进行融入需要考虑到不同批次的学生,从历史角度切入议题很有价值,需要进一步思考科学性如何有机融入。
北京市昌平区第一中学韩宁老师介绍学校的议题“环保购物袋”的背景与实施情况。塑料在没有处理的情况下进入环境,由于其难降解的特性,将造成长期的深层次的生态环境影响。人们对塑料的依赖使得减塑行动非常难进行,可降解塑料的研究开发也是全球的一个热点话题。由此引发了对实际生活中购物袋问题的关注,该议题主要研究的内容为可降解塑料。一方面通过探寻可降解塑料的降解原理,寻找高效的降解途径;另一方面,希望学生通过议题的学习,提高环保意识,带动身边的人正确使用环保购物袋,为拒绝城市污染贡献一份力量。该议题目前已经进展了五节课,后续课程将从物理学科角度探究不同种类塑料袋的承重性能研究,对正确使用环保袋进行推广宣传,并希望找到大学合作进行可降解塑料性能对比的实验。
北京师范大学第三附属中学王秀娟老师提出三点疑问与意见,一是课程是通过研究性课程进行实施吗;二是高中开展化学实验有许多限制,可做的很少;三是建议带领学生进行实地考察,激发学生的学习与职业选择的兴趣,更有利于学生成长。韩宁老师回应道,课程是以社团活动的形式开展的,在开展化学实验的过程中确实遇到一些困难,比如塑料燃烧会产生有毒气体,这个实验就被否决了,希望借助周边大学的力量开展相关实验。
北京市八一学校陈春翔老师介绍学校议题“机动汽车能源的现在与未来”的选定。学校在2017年的时候已经开展过社会性科学议题的研究,由于重污染天气、汽车限行等问题在当下讨论的热度已减弱,需要进一步寻找好的议题。电瓶车引发的火灾事件引起了老师们的关注,但是该议题主要从社区管理,居民道德意识等角度展开,缺少科学性。基于电动车的视角,老师们将视野拓展到了机动汽车的能源问题,可以结合化学、政治等学科领域进行拓展。语文老师也可以组织辩论活动,以及最后方案的推广、海报的制作与论文的写作。陈春翔老师指出学生在课程学习中需要掌握科学论证的基本范式,明确有哪些证据可以支持自己的观点,思考可能的反驳观点以及反例。最后陈春翔老师总结了社会学科学议题的一般思路和方法以及教师在课程中应当指导的内容。
山西师范大学实验中学杨莹老师点评道,课题的选择符合社会热点,有探索价值。在授课形式上,建议多设计一些学生活动,例如多抛一些问题给学生,让学生进行角色扮演,给政府部门写建议书,开展模拟联合国大会,结合学科特点从知识原理出发推动科学实验。此外,议题的重点在社会性上,科学性不太突出。
中国人民大学附属中学温明男老师介绍学校议题“综合实践活动中的社会性科学议题学习研究”,在学校前期开展的“参与式设计”课程基础上,将课程升级为《城市更新——北京2035》,与海淀街道等单位合作,带领学生对学校附近的空地进行海淀街道微空间改造项目。温明男老师介绍了适合以实际问题出发的理论框架体系——SSI教学指导模型,并指出真实问题具有复杂性,希望激励学生在真实问题中寻找社会性问题。学校不同学科的教师就学生在实际项目中可能发现的社会性课题进行模拟,例如“针对社区空间以及城市地理的特点,如何营造健康的生态环境?”。项目计划在下学期开展,学习以大概念为统领的社会性科学议题精神,组织生物、体育、政治、英语、地理、科技等学科教师与学生一起就社区改造中的社会性科学议题进行深入挖掘,并与设计师合作进行细化设计,达到在综合实践活动中进行社会性科学议题学习研究的活动。
北京师范大学附属中学张亚老师点评道,学校的课题较为聚焦、资源非常丰富,由多学科教师组成团队能很好支持项目开展,但是鼓励学生在真实情境提出真实问题的可行性有待进一步探讨,建议老师带领学生一起将真实问题进一步聚焦、细化,项目开展起来会更具针对性,更好落地实施。温明男老师回应道,课程前期以参与式设计的形式开展,学生从使用者的角度进行了项目体验,具备一定基础,在课题的选择上也会与北京林业大学的设计师团队进行交流,发现问题的过程会由老师进行保驾护航。温老师指出,在进行设计的过程中发现问题很重要,如果所有问题都是由老师提出的,对于孩子的创造力可能存在一定约束。
项目学科指导专家、物理学科特级教师、北师大二附中彭梦华老师点评道,上一次高中组的研讨交流主要在议题的设想阶段,这一次许多学校已经步入实施环节,可见老师们都做出了很多努力,克服了不少困难。彭老师提出了几点建议,一是希望教师能通过社会性科学议题学习项目进一步提高自己的教学能力,拓宽基础知识,向同行学,向学生学。二是学生活动不是让学生简单地查资料,而是给学生创造科学活动、科学实验的条件,让学生作为主体参与研究。三是议题选择需要联系学生实际,例如环保袋、社区改造就与学生生活关系紧密,在新能源议题的探讨上,需要思考电瓶车是否是新能源,锂电池的回收问题如何处理。四是抓住社会性科学议题的特点,尽早动起来。
项目学科指导专家、生物学科特级教师、北京市昌平第一中学周有祥老师表示北京市目前有高中多元化办学的要求,高中选修课也有硬性要求,能更好地支持社会性科学议题学习项目的开展。走出学校的实践体验更能触动学生,在昌平有很大的现代化垃圾处理厂,希望后续学校能有机会带学生走出校门,走向实地,纵深化推动项目学习。
福建师范大学孔艺老师指出在社会性科学议题学习项目的开展上彰显出了不同的类型特点,例如学科发展、围绕社会热点难点、从传统STEM/PBL发展起来等,针对不同的类型设计不同的评价标准与维度能更好地评价项目成果。
SSI-L项目负责人、中国基础教育质量监测协同创新中心科学提升部主任林静对今晚的研讨内容做出总结。首先,林老师指出社会性科学议题学习项目要与高中课标相联系,服务高考的同时又超越高考、引领高考,高中学生时间有限,要将各学科的重要概念融入议题设计中。其次,林老师强调社会性科学议题一定是真实的,要注重环境氛围的创设,紧紧把握与学生相关的社会性,融入情感教育。接着,林老师指出不要将社会性科学议题学习等同于研究性学习,也不要注重于让学生拓展知识,而是通过教学设计,以社会性科学推理、论证、建模等方式支撑教学活动来引发学生的学习;在课时上至少应保障一周有两节课。最后,林老师建议高中组可考虑嵌入式评价研究,以整合大概念、科学实践与科学态度在社会性科学议题学习中的培养。
谭永平老师总结本次在线研讨,各个学校老师的发言都非常有质量,主评老师也很敏锐,希望学校接下来进一步考虑到活动设计的科学性与实践性。
On the evening of November 17th, 2021, from 19:00 to 21:50, the SSI-L Senior High School group held an online seminar in Tencent conference room to discuss the issue selection and implementation progress of partner schools. The meeting was hosted by TAN Yongping, the head of the senior high school section and the director of the Biology subject of the People’s Education Press. Subject experts, contact persons of partner schools and key teachers participated in the discussion.
HAN Lixin from the Second High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University introduced their SSI-L project of “whether it is encouraged in Beijing to build large-scale solar photovoltaic system”. Nowadays, relationships among energy, environment and economic development are hot and common issues that the whole world concerns. The team had already gone through two rounds of activities which were “Electromagnetic gun” and “Production of electroacoustic string instrument”. Because of that, the team had already acquired a certain foundation and it had subject teachers of physics, geography, and politics. By combining with subject knowledge of physics, the team set three tasks: design solar street lamp system, early site selection of photovoltaic power station, and different scenarios of photovoltaic applications. The team, later on, broke tasks into several teaching activities. At present, the project had carried out activities such as making the optical control circuit and designing the solar photovoltaic system. At the end of the course, students will form their own works and display them with the circuit diagram. Teacher HAN showed students’ interim results, including the design of solar charging skateboards, solar smart trash cans and the evaluation of building solar photovoltaic systems across the country. In the end, HAN reported the follow-up plan and their designed activities such as building the solar street lamp system by students and discussing whether it is encouraged in Beijing to build a large-scale solar photovoltaic system.
WANG Bo from Beijing Zhongguancun Zhichun Middle School, commented that the project was interdisciplinary and could improve students’ abilities. The school had already built an interdisplinary team, and the project was well-planned. However, WANG had questions regarding the evaluation methods of students’ outcomes. HAN responded that we treated those activities as part of the regular course. Although there were no strict requirements on assignment, evaluation, and examination, students’ performance would be evaluated by teachers based on their daily performance and the final achievement.
DUAN Changbo from Beijing No. 9 Middle School, introduced their SSI-L project “The history and reflection of pandemics”. Teachers and students collected information about the history of plagues during the summer vacation and tried to design the project by themselves. The project integrated subjects like economics, Chinese, chemistry, biology, and politics. Students learned the history of plagues including “The history and reflection of epidemic disease” by understanding basic knowledge of economics and reading poems. Students would further understand the development of traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Chinese culture by combining the concept of culture and civilization with the perspective of rational thinking. Students would understand how western medicine spread in China in modern times from the perspective of chemistry and biology. They would finally get the idea of the latest progress of the fight against the pandemic by comparing political differences between China and America and cultivating students’ patriotism.
LI Ping from Yuxin School attached to Capital Normal University believes the topic is close to students’ life. We had already witnessed some achievements through summarizing the history of fighting with the pandemic, but the controversial point and openness of the topic were not clear. Teacher GAO Xiaoxu responded that this project had been discussed in the school for more than a year. In the past, the project mainly focused on biology, physics, and chemistry but now we also invited teachers from history and politics subjects to participate. Hopefully through this, students could have more thinking of the historical side and could consider national big issues from multiple aspects. The topic doesn’t have to be controversial, as long as it is difficult and in-depth, and students can do in-depth research on the topic, that should be fine. TAN Yongping mentioned that when integrating the previous activity into the new semester, teachers need to consider that they may face different groups of students. It is valuable to see the issue from a historical perspective but in terms of integrating science into the project, it needs to think a bit more.
HAN Ning from Beijing Changping No.1 Middle School introduced the background and the implementation of their SSI-L project “Environmental protection shopping bags”. Without appropriate disposal, because plastics are hard to degrade, it will damage the environment in the long-term. Since people rely heavily on plastic items, it is difficult to reduce the use of plastics which made the research and development of degradable plastics a hot issue in the world. As a result, people paid attention to shopping bags used in real life. The theme of this project is biodegradable plastics. On the one hand, by exploring the principle of degradable plastics, the team aims to find a more efficient way to degrade. On the other hand, through the study, students are expected to raise awareness of environmental protection, encourage those around them to use reusable shopping bags correctly, so as to contribute to the rejection of urban pollution. Five classes had already been completed. In the following course, the team will test how heavy different types of plastic bags can hold from the perspective of physics, promote the correct use of environmental bags, and hope to find a university to cooperate with in terms of the performance comparison of different types of degradable plastics.
WANG Xiujuan from the Third High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University raised three questions. First, is it a research-based curriculum? Second, there is only a little students can do on chemical experiments in senior high schools. Third, leading students to field studies can stimulate their interest in study and career choice which is beneficial to students’ future development. HAN Ning responded that those courses were community activities and students did meet some problems during the process. For example, burning plastics would produce toxic gases, so this experiment was rejected. That’s why they hoped to carry out relevant experiments with the help of universities nearby.
CHEN Chunxiang from Beijing Bayi Middle School introduced their SSI-L project “The present and future of vehicle energy”. The school has already carried out SSI-L project since 2017. Because the problem of pool quality weather and traffic restriction was not as severe as before, the school needed to find a better topic. The fire incident caused by the battery car aroused teachers’ attention. However, since it was only discussed from the perspective of community management and residents’ moral consciousness, it was not scientific. Teachers expanded their vision from electric vehicles to the energy issue of vehicles and combined disciplines such as chemistry and politics. Chinese teachers were going to organize activities such as debate, poster making, paper writing to present the outcome. Teacher CHEN Chunxiang pointed out that students need to know the basic paradigm of scientific demonstration in the course learning, make clear what kind of evidence can support their views, and think about possible refutations and counterexamples. CHEN at last, summarized the general ideas and methods on conducting SSI-L and the content that teachers need to teach in the course.
YANG Ying from The Experimental Middle School of Shanxi Normal University commented that the topic is a social hot issue that is worth exploring. As for the teaching method, she suggested designing more student activities such as asking more questions, role play, writing proposals to the government, organizing MUN, and designing experiments based on the subject’s characteristics and knowledge. Besides, this topic is more focusing on the social aspect rather than the scientific part.
WEN Mingnan from RDFZ Middle School introduced their SSI-L project of “Learning SSI-L projects through comprehensive practice”. Based on the previous course of “participatory design”, the school updated the course to “Urban Renewal — Beijing 2035”, cooperated with units in Haidian District and led students to empty spaces nearby to carry out the project of the micro-space renovation of streets in Haidian. WEN introduced the SSI-L guidance model, a theoretical framework that is suitable for solving practical problems. He also encouraged students to find the relevant issues in real life. Those problems are usually complicated.
Teachers from different subjects simulated social-scientific issues that students might find in the implementation. For example, how to build a healthy and ecological environment through thinking about the characteristics of community space and urban geography? The topic will be carried out in the next semester. Students will learn the general idea of social-scientific issues. The school will organize teachers from biology, PE, politics, English, geography, science, and technology to dig out social-scientific issues under the project of community reconstruction together with students. The school also planned to cooperate with designers to conduct detailed design and finally achieve the purpose of studying social-scientific issues in comprehensive practice activities.
ZHANG Ya from the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University commented that the project was focused, rich in resources and included teachers from different subjects which could be a great support for the implementation. However, since it is difficult for students to raise questions by themselves in real cases, ZHANG suggested teachers focus and refine those questions with students, so as to make the project more targeted and easier to implement. WEN responded that at the early stage, the course was carried out in a form of participatory design and students experienced the project as users. They would also communicate with the designer team from Beijing Forestry University to select appropriate issues, and teachers would be there to sort any problem during the process. WEN also pointed out that it is important to find problems when designing. If all the questions are raised by teachers, there may be some constraints on student’s creativity.
PENG Menghua, the subject guidance expert of the project, special grade teacher of physics, and teacher of the Second High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University, commented that in the last discussion, many projects were just at the planning stage, while this time a lot of them had stepped into the implementation stage. He believed that teachers had made great efforts and had overcome many difficulties. PENG at the same time gave several suggestions. First, he hoped that teachers could further improve their teaching ability and broaden their basic knowledge through the SSI-L project and they could learn from peers and students. Second, for those students’ activities, don’t simply let the student look up information, but to create conditions for students to participate in scientific activities and experiments, let students be as the main body of research. Third, those issues should be close to student’s life. For example, the topic of reusable bags and community reconstruction are close to students’ life. As for the topic of new energy, it is worth thinking about whether battery carts are new energy vehicles and how to recycle lithium batteries. Forth, project teams should understand the characteristics of social science issues and conduct as soon as possible.
ZHOU Youxiang, the subject guidance expert of the project, the special grade teacher of biology, and the teacher of Beijing Changping No. 1 Middle School said that for high school in Beijing, it is required to be diversified and open optional modules. Those can better support the implementation of SSI-L projects. Since students are more interested in activities outside the campus and because in Changping, there is a large modern waste treatment plant, ZHOU hope that schools can take students out of school to do field studies which can deepen the project learning.
KONG Yi from Fujian Normal University pointed out that different SSI-L projects showed different characteristics. Some focus on subject development, some focus on social hot issues and difficult issues, also some others focus on developing from traditional STEM/PBL, etc. For different types of projects, it is suggested to use different evaluation criteria and dimensions to better evaluate the result.
Dr. LIN Jing, the SSI-L project leader and the Director of the Science Improvement Department of China Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality summarized the seminar. Firstly, she pointed out that SSI-L project should link to the high school curriculums, serve the college entrance examination, surpass and even lead the college entrance examination. Since time is precious for high school students, some important subject knowledge should be integrated into the SSI-L designs. Teachers should aim to create a good atmosphere and pay attention to those social issues that are close to students’ life and add moral education. Thirdly, SSI-L is neither equal to research-based learning nor aims to expand students’ knowledge. Instead, module design should consider the reasoning, demonstration, and modeling of SSI to support teaching activities and stimulate students’ learning intention. At least two classes a week should be guaranteed. Finally, LIN suggested partner schools consider the embedded evaluation system to learn big ideas and cultivate abilities of scientific practices and scientific attitudes.
TAN Yongping summed up today’s discussion and said that all speeches were high in quality. A lot of good comments had been made. In the future, the partner schools could consider more on scientific and practical side of the activity design.