Curriculum Transformation in China: Trends in Student Perceptions of Classroom Practice and Engagement

In the late-1990s, education policymakers began a process of curriculum reform with the goal of transforming Chinese schooling from exam-oriented education to student-centered learning. Traditional education practices have expected students to passively accept and memorize material presented by teachers, and to reproduce the knowledge on often high-stakes examinations. The new curriculum is designed to reduce teacher-centered instruction in favor of student-centered learning characterized by active learners creatively solving problems, challenging existing knowledge, and participating in lively discussion. Despite such a dramatic shift in curriculum policy, little is known about the whether reform efforts are truly transforming the educational experiences of students. In this paper, we describe these changes in curriculum policy. Second, using data from three waves of the Gansu Survey of Children and Families (2000, 2004, 2007), we investigate how student perceptions of classroom and teaching practices have changed as over time as the new curriculum has been implemented. Finally, we examine the relationship between new curriculum practices and student engagement. The perspective of the students is a crucial dimension to understanding the shift in the practices of teaching and learning that seek to cultivate creativity and innovativeness in students to bolster China’s entrance into the global information age

Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes: Academic Achievement and Educational Engagement in Rural Northwest China

A central task of educational researchers has been to uncover factors that improve student academic achievement. Research in both developed and developing nations during the past few decades has analysed the links between educational outcomes and school physical resources, teacher quality and children\u27s demographic and family background. Importantly, research on teacher and school effects in developing countries has focused on factors such as human capital, economic resources and physical infrastructure, the so-called input factors in the black box production function model of school outcomes. Fewer studies have focused on the softer classroom process factors that might be seen as important mechanisms of the production function, such as teaching style, the quality of teacher-student interactions and student academic engagement

Doing more with less: Teacher professional learning communities in resource-constrained primary schools in rural China.

Teacher professional learning communities provide environments in which teachers engage in regular research and collaboration. They have been found effective as a means for connecting professional learning to the day-to-day realities faced by teachers in the classroom. In this article, the authors draw on survey data collected in primary schools serving 71 villages in rural Gansu Province as well as transcripts from in-depth interviews with 30 teachers. Findings indicate that professional learning communities penetrate to some of China’s most resource-constrained schools but that their nature and development are shaped by institutional supports, principal leadership, and teachers’ own initiative

Revolutionizing Ritual Interaction in the Classroom: Constructing the Chinese Renaissance of the 21st Century

Over the past decade, educational leaders in China have maintained that the pattern of social interactions in Chinese classrooms is not conducive to the cultivation of innovativeness and creativity and that this lack of creativity is a major barrier to China’s global competitiveness. One key response has been the implementation of the 2001 New Curriculum reforms in basic education. This article draws on qualitative classroom observation and in-depth interview data, as well as quantitative survey data, from Gansu province to investigate the extent to which classroom interactions differ substantially in Chinese primary school classrooms that are implementing the New Curriculum reforms compared with those that are not. To the extent that individuals are constructed by the interactions in which they participate, changes in classrooms could have far-reaching implications for contemporary youth socialized differently than those of previous generations, and for the future social, cultural, and political order of China

Revolutionizing Ritual Interaction in the Classroom: Constructing the Chinese Renaissance of the 21st Century

Over the past decade, educational leaders in China have maintained that the pattern of social interactions in Chinese classrooms is not conducive to the cultivation of innovativeness and creativity and that this lack of creativity is a major barrier to China’s global competitiveness. One key response has been the implementation of the 2001 New Curriculum reforms in basic education. This article draws on qualitative classroom observation and in-depth interview data, as well as quantitative survey data, from Gansu province to investigate the extent to which classroom interactions differ substantially in Chinese primary school classrooms that are implementing the New Curriculum reforms compared with those that are not. To the extent that individuals are constructed by the interactions in which they participate, changes in classrooms could have far-reaching implications for contemporary youth socialized differently than those of previous generations, and for the future social, cultural, and political order of China

Multi-laboratory compilation of atmospheric carbon dioxide data for the period 1957-2020 [Dataset]

This product is constructed using the Observation Package (ObsPack) framework [Masarie et al., 2014; www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/6/375/2014/]. The framework is designed to bring together atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) observations from a variety of sampling platforms, prepare them with specific applications in mind, and package and distribute them in a self-consistent and well-documented product. ObsPack products are intended to support GHG budget studies and represent a new generation of cooperative value-added GHG data products. This product includes 524 atmospheric carbon dioxide datasets derived from observations made by 63 laboratories from 21 countries. Data for the period 1957-2020 (where available) are included

Multi-laboratory compilation of atmospheric carbon dioxide data for the period 1957-2020; obspack_co2_1_GLOBALVIEWplus_v7.0_2021-08-18

This product is constructed using the Observation Package (ObsPack) framework [Masarie et al., 2014; www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/6/375/2014/]. The framework is designed to bring together atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) observations from a variety of sampling platforms, prepare them with specific applications in mind, and package and distribute them in a self-consistent and well-documented product. ObsPack products are intended to support GHG budget studies and represent a new generation of cooperative value-added GHG data products. This product includes 524 atmospheric carbon dioxide datasets derived from observations made by 63 laboratories from 21 countries. Data for the period 1957-2020 (where available) are included