Influence of the Reform of College Entrance Examination on High School Physics Curriculum in Shanghai

Abstract

A new round of the reform of college entrance examination is in progress in China, which would inevitably influence high school curriculum, especially physics. According to our statistics, the proportion of students choosing physics as a selective subject decreased significantly after the reform of college entrance examination was carried out. We conducted a study in Shanghai, one of the pilot areas of the reform, to investigate the impact of the new reform policy of college entrance examination on high school physics curriculum with interviews and FCI tests, thus to provide references for the future reform. We found that compared with the conditions before the reform, the high school students from Shanghai learned less about physics and physics teachers has less time to teach and communicate with students. What is more, college freshmen from Shanghai fell behind those who came from other areas in FCI performance before and even after a term of formal instruction.