Class Education Experiment Theory and Method

Author: Tang Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-05-01
Features: It is precisely in the critical deconstruction of the traditional normative theory of class collective education that new issues of contemporary collective education are proposed. Moreover, through the comparison and synthesis of modern collective education theoretical schools such as the Soviet Union's class collective theory, the Western class social system theory, and Japan's class group theory, we creatively construct an integrated theoretical paradigm of educational social psychology of class collectives. This paradigm ranges from educational social psychology hypotheses of class collectives, socio-psychological structure-function models of class collectives, to systematic variable models of experimental class collectives. In the construction of this theoretical paradigm, we employ dialectical materialism and systems analysis to properly handle the dialectical relationship between object and context, structure and process, thereby enhancing the scientific rigor and explanatory power of the theoretical paradigm.
For example, as the research object of educational experiments, the class collective must first be abstracted from the macro socio-cultural background of the class system. Subsequently, in the joint activities, interactions, and interpersonal relationships of classroom teaching, class management, and collective education, we conduct an in-depth micro-anatomical and of the socio-psychological structural elements, configurations, and functional mechanisms of the class collective. At the same time, we regard the class collective as an open system and examine its socio-cultural genes—such as family culture, peer groups, community environment, and mass media—within the macro socio-cultural background of the class teaching system. From this, we reveal the laws and mechanisms of the class collective as an interactive interface between student subculture and adult society.
For instance, in constructing the "structure-function" theoretical paradigm of class collectives, we propose a logical definition: "The class collective is not a synonym for the class group." On one hand, we treat the class collective as a socio-psychological community, structurally analyzing its socio-psychological variable system into elements such as collective goals, organizational structures, interpersonal relationships, public opinion, and discipline, along with their relational models. On the other hand, we dynamically examine the states and indicators of several stages in the formation and development of the class collective, such as "loose group—union—cooperative group—core group—collective." Using methods such as observation, surveys, and experiments, we employ parameters like goals, interactions, interpersonal relationships, organizational degree, and collective consciousness as indicators to measure the developmental level of the class collective.
In The Ideal Model of Educational Experiments in Class Collective Education, we employ model methods to transform the theoretical paradigm of educational social psychology of class collectives into an experimentally operational, measurable, and verifiable experimental model with tool-like application functions. The model method is a special form of experimental research, also known as the idealization method. It is a theoretical thinking method that uses scientific abstraction to "purely" reproduce the essential characteristics and laws of the research object.
Once the researcher has acquired relatively sufficient empirical materials and achieved a certain level of rational understanding of the research object, a theoretical or hypothesis similar to the prototype can be constructed. Through further research, the degree of similarity to the prototype can be continuously improved. This is the ideal model that reproduces the prototype in a "pure" form.
Establishing an ideal model through scientific abstraction and using the ideal model for thought experiments is known as the idealized model method. The ideal model of educational experiments in class collective education is based on the empirical prototype of class collective construction. Due to the