Curriculum Innovation in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Thinking-Based Instruction Theory and Its Application

Frontiers in Psychology

Xinru Zhang¹  David Yun Dai²  Yangping Li³  Weiping Hu⁴ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology (Ministry of Education), Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology (Ministry of Education), Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY, United States;Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology (Ministry of Education), Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States;Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology (Ministry of Education), Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China;Shaanxi Normal University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University, Xi’an, China;

关键词: curriculum innovation;    thinking-based instruction theory;    learning at home;    key competencies;    online learning;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.601607

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

At the beginning of 2020, to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to the campus, the Ministry of Education of China launched a policy “Suspension of classes without suspending schooling” for the spring semester of 2020. However, the drawbacks of online teaching (e.g., students’ inadequate autonomous learning, the lack of effective online instruction) forced us to modify teaching strategies during this special period, especially developing courses that are suitable for student learning at home and improving their key competencies. In order to solve these problems, this study introduces some theoretical exploration and practical work of curriculum design under the guidance of thinking-based instruction theory (TBIT) during the pandemic. We firstly introduce TBIT, and elaborate on the curriculum design under the TBIT theoretical frame. Then we describe a series of TBIT-based micro-courses with the pandemic as background. A descriptive study is reported to illustrate the effects of three micro-courses. Results showed that, compared to national curricula, the TBIT-based micro-courses not only improved the course quality but also enhanced students’ motivation and facilitated their online learning behavior (such as interactive communication) for the online courses. The current study has important implications for how to design effective and interesting online courses suitable under pandemic and capable of improving students’ thinking abilities and key competencies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY