(A) the significance of the choice of educational research topics

Scientific research topic, that is, research topic, is a research problem established by analyzing the subjective and objective conditions of the research object according to the research purpose. The topic selection makes the purpose of the research concrete and makes the research activities point to specific objects and content categories, which has the characteristics of directivity, generality and limitation. The choice of educational research topics is of great significance to the whole research process and the organization and management of educational activities.

1. The topic can reflect the value of research.

The subject is a problem that must be solved in the further development of educational practice and understanding, and it is the connection point between known fields and unknown fields. It reflects the breadth and depth of existing practice and understanding, as well as the breadth and depth of exploring and advancing into unknown fields. Einstein, a famous physicist, said that it is more important to ask a question than to solve it. He thinks that solving problems may be just two kinds of mathematical or experimental skills. However, raising new questions requires creative imagination, which marks the real progress of science. This subject is also of great value in education and scientific research.

The purpose of educational research is to solve various problems faced by education. These problems have different values because of their different influences on education and their different positions and functions in educational activities. For example, at present, primary and secondary education is changing from "exam-oriented education" to "quality education", which is a change in educational concepts, educational ideas and educational models. It is of great theoretical and practical significance to choose research topics around quality education.

2. The topic guides the research direction.

There are many problems in educational practice that need us to study and solve. Researchers always choose problems to study according to the needs of practice and their own development. The so-called research direction refers to some problems that researchers must solve after long-term research and practice in the field of educational science, and create their own research fields in these fields to form stable and clear main goals and research clues. The proposal of a good topic will greatly promote educational practice and educational science, and even reveal the development direction of educational practice and educational theory in a period of time.

The subject also affects the direction of the whole research process. The subject is the definition of research object, research category and research theme, and the whole research work is launched from this and around it. For example, the study on the reasons and countermeasures of rural junior high school students' dropping out of school points out that the research object is junior high school students, and its scope is limited to rural areas, with the goal of revealing the reasons for dropping out of school and putting forward corresponding countermeasures. However, the design, implementation and evaluation of the whole research scheme must be carried out closely around the subject. Obviously, when the subject is clear, the direction of the whole research activity will be clear.

This subject plays a restrictive role in the whole research work.

As the starting point of educational scientific research, the subject has started the whole mechanism of educational research. It restricts the process and way of educational research. In the process of educational research, different research topics, research methods and research tools are different, and there are also differences in data collection and utilization. For example, both "Analysis and Research on Middle School Students' Ideological Status at the Present Stage" and "Research on Middle School Students' Extracurricular Reading Guidance" need to know about students' extracurricular reading, but the former should focus on the analysis of reading content, while the latter should focus on the study of reading methods, which is the reason for the limitations of this subject.

The topic selection is not only of great significance in itself, but also has an important impact on the whole education. Generally speaking, educational research institutes mainly solve theoretical or practical problems in education, that is to say, education is actually the source of educational research topics, and the choice of topics is often restricted by the development of educational reality. Only by being close to the educational reality can we effectively answer the questions in the educational reality and the research will have life and value. Therefore, a good topic selection will play an important role in promoting the reform and development of education, the scientific management of schools and the continuous improvement of work.

(B) the types of educational research topics

Primary and secondary education is the basic part of the whole education system, and it is a relatively independent education subsystem, which contains a series of activity elements and their relationships. Education is also a huge social system, which contains all kinds of complicated internal and external relations. Therefore, education is a broad research field, which contains rich research topics. Educational research topics can be divided into different types from different angles.

From the nature of research, scientific research topics can be divided into theoretical topics and applied topics. The exploration of educational laws, the study of methodology, the revelation of the characteristics of related phenomena, and the analysis of some educational ideas and thoughts can all be regarded as theoretical topics. Generally, this kind of topic is not aimed at a specific educational phenomenon, and its research results have extensive guiding significance. For example, Research on Popularizing Nine-year Compulsory Education in Some Mountainous Counties, Research on Middle School Students' Ideological Status and Education in Small and Medium-sized Cities, Research on Rural Campus Culture Construction, and Research on the Differentiation of Junior Two Students. Aiming at the specific practice of education, the research to solve specific problems in a certain field or aspect in educational practice belongs to applied research. For example, "analysis of the current situation of the construction of teachers in XX school and research on the five-year improvement plan". Summary and popularization of teaching experience of X X school teachers, experiment and application research of xx teaching method, etc. The results of applied research can generally be directly used in educational practice.

From the data source and time, educational research topics can be divided into historical topics and practical topics. The former mainly discusses the characteristics of education in different historical periods and reveals the laws of education through the analysis of historical materials. Learn from historical experience and lessons. The latter mainly understands and solves the problems in real education through the study of real educational materials. It also includes education prediction based on reality and future education research.

Judging from the content of the study. Educational research topics can be divided into comprehensive topics and individual topics. Comprehensive topics mainly refer to topics involving several fields or aspects of education at the same time. For example, "Study on Comprehensive Reform of Primary and Secondary Education in XX City" and "Study on Principal Training Law and Management System". Comprehensive projects are generally divided into several projects, and more scientific researchers are organized to cooperate to complete them. A single topic mainly discusses a certain aspect or phenomenon of education, such as teachers' research, students' academic performance research, teaching materials and teaching methods research and so on.

From the perspective of research methods, educational research topics can be divided into experimental topics and descriptive topics. The former mainly refers to the subject that achieves the research purpose through experimental design, while the latter mainly refers to the subject that achieves the research purpose through investigation, data analysis, logical reasoning and other means, also known as the rationality subject.

From the form of topic selection, it can also be divided into new topics, carry-over topics, entrusted topics and self-selected topics. Newly opened topics, that is, topics newly included in the annual plan after repeated evaluation and demonstration in that year. This kind of topic is an important topic in the current and local education development and reform, and it is also an urgent need to give priority to research. Carry-over questions refer to unfinished questions set up last year or earlier. Be careful whether you want to continue to study this kind of topic. You can't give up easily. We can't ignore the actual results and conditions and continue to do things that are futile and get twice the result with half the effort. Entrusted projects refer to projects entrusted by relevant departments, which are collaborative in nature. It is necessary and beneficial to complete some large-scale scientific research projects. Self-selected topics refer to the topics selected by researchers themselves.

In a word, educational research topics can be classified from many angles and sides. However, the division of various types is only relative, and the topics in actual educational research are often the synthesis of several types.

(3) Requirements for selecting topics for education and scientific research

Dr. Badin, who won the Nobel Prize twice, once said: It is very important to see the scientific research topic it chooses to decide whether a research can achieve results. Although the field of education is vast and scientific research topics are very rich, it is not easy to really choose a topic with high value, which is suitable for your own research practice and can achieve research results. In order to ensure the quality of research, the selection of educational research topics should follow the following basic requirements:

purpose

Scientific research is a purposeful activity. The choice of educational research topics must first have a clear purpose. Why did you choose this topic? What is the value of the research on this subject to education? People with multiple-choice questions must answer these questions clearly. The purpose of the topic is clear, the research direction is easy to grasp, and it is easy to strengthen the confidence of the research.

The purpose of topic selection should come from the objective needs of education, that is, starting from the reality of education, solving theoretical or practical problems in education and promoting the reform and development of education. We should choose our own research topics from the needs of educational reform, educational management and teaching practice. Following the purpose principle, the topic selection should be "four combinations and four priorities", that is, personal research interests should be combined with the objective needs of society and school work, and social needs should be given priority; Combining basic research with applied research, focusing on applied research; Macro-research is combined with micro-research, with micro-research as the main research; Historical research, advanced research and realistic research are combined, and realistic research is the main one.

science

Scientific research is an activity of seeking truth. The choice of educational research topics must follow the objective laws of education and related things, and we must fully understand the objective conditions of research. It is necessary to analyze the history and present situation of education, collect, sort out and analyze other people's research results and various materials, and form a topic through rigorous scientific argumentation to avoid subjective speculation and blind topic selection.

Scientific requirements must also attach importance to the scientific value of disciplines. The so-called scientific value refers to the new discovery and creation in educational science. The research of the subject can promote the development of educational science, fill some gaps in educational science, correct some incorrect views in educational science, supplement the previous research, and make the previous research results more abundant and complete.

Creative

Scientific research is an exploration activity in unknown fields, which is intended for invention, innovation and progress. The topic selection of educational scientific research should fully reflect the creative spirit, as Mr. Tao Xingzhi said: Dare to explore new ideas of invention. The topic should be advanced and novel, and the eyes should be on the forefront of educational reform and development. Such as studying the new problems brought about by the development of socialist market economy and the new development of education caused by the development of modern science and technology. We should be good at studying the old topics in the field of education from different angles, different ways and new horizons. Even if you choose some confirmatory research topics, you should try your best to make new discoveries. Only creative subjects have real vitality.

4. Feasibility

Scientific research is a rigorous and realistic activity. The selection of educational research topics must fully consider the subjective and objective conditions and analyze the feasibility of the topics in the actual research process. Subjectively, do you have the necessary knowledge level and research ability, and whether your experience, energy and interest meet the research needs? Objectively speaking, whether there are necessary materials, tools, equipment, funds, time, leadership support and cooperation from all sides.

For educators, the topic selection should proceed from reality and fully consider whether their own strength is commensurate with the difficulty of the research topic. People who are engaged in research for the first time should choose those topics with narrow scope, specific content and low difficulty, especially those that are closely related to their own education and teaching management, have the conditions and the results can be directly used in their own practice. In the future, with the continuous accumulation of experience, the continuous improvement of scientific research ability and the continuous expansion of vision, you can choose some difficult or comprehensive topics. You can also organize relevant personnel to cooperate in research and tackle key problems collectively. In short, it is necessary to achieve cross-regional cooperation from point to surface, from shallow to deep, from small to large, from a few people to the masses, from one school to several schools.

2. Sources and selection methods of educational research topics

(A) the source of educational research topics

The research topics of educational science mainly come from educational practice and theoretical literature. More specifically, we can look for and explore research topics from the following eight aspects.

1. Discuss the topic from how to improve the quality of work.

Every educator has his own tasks and responsibilities. How should he complete his task and improve the quality of his work? There are many topics worth studying here. For example, Chinese and foreign language teachers study how to improve students' listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities; Mathematics teachers study and cultivate students' logical thinking ability; Teachers in normal schools study how to embody the nature of normal education in education and teaching; Kindergarten teachers study how to cultivate children's good habits; Librarians study how to improve the efficiency of book use and give reading guidance; School education administrators study how to plan and manage school development scientifically. Finding and studying topics from one's own work is conducive to improving the scientific degree of education.

2. Explore the topic from the difficulties and deficiencies in the work.

Educators will encounter all kinds of difficulties in educational practice, and there will be some shortcomings in their work, some of which are universal. Solving these problems is of great significance for improving the quality of education. For example, the traditional classroom teaching method is often that the teacher tells the students to listen, the teacher reads the students' notes and the teacher tests the students' backs. This can't stimulate students' interest in learning. There are always some students who don't want to learn. Teachers can think in this way, whether we can start with changing the concept of education, establish a new democratic, harmonious and cooperative relationship between teachers and students, especially give more love to "poor students", enhance their confidence in overcoming learning difficulties, and improve their sense of success and pleasure in learning; Can we change the original teaching methods, such as "self-study guidance", "study guidance" and "independent participation in teaching", so as to promote students' change from passive learning to active learning? Can we change the original classroom teaching structure, combine class teaching system with group discussion and individual answering questions, guide students to carry out extracurricular learning activities, and increase the time and space for students' activities? Can we adjust the original teaching content, handle the teaching materials well, and increase the practice and learning? Give students time to practice and experiment, and strengthen feedback-correction; Can we carry out some reform experiments on the form and content of school examinations, so that they can really play the role of feedback, encouragement and scientific evaluation, not just for grading? Wait, if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to find a research topic.

3. Explore topics from the new situations encountered in educational reform and construction.

Education reform and education development will encounter many new situations and problems, and many research topics will be formed. For example, the research on urban population growth, urban construction, "revitalizing the city through science and technology (agriculture)" and education; Strengthen and reform the study of ideological and political work in schools and the study of regional education development strategy and its operating mechanism; Overall education reform and experimental research, curriculum, teaching materials, examination reform research, rural junior high school education reform research; Research on the reform of principal responsibility system. The research of these topics can not only provide scientific decision-making basis for educational administrative departments, but also help to solve micro-education problems.

4. Discover topics from the observation of educational practice.

Observing educational practice activities can best find problems. If we think theoretically with scientific sensitivity and academic sensitivity, it is not difficult to find a number of topics with great research value. For example, preliminary observation shows that due to the improvement of living standards and the development of economy and culture, the physiological maturity of many middle school students has been advanced. After in-depth observation and thinking, this paper puts forward a series of questions about adolescent education of middle school students: what is the current situation of physical development and psychological development of middle school students during adolescence? How is the sexual concept of middle school students formed? What influence does the social and school cultural environment have on the development of teenagers' sexual consciousness? What is the significance of adolescent education to the formation of students' personality? How to cultivate and train students' psychological balance ability? How to consult and guide students' adolescent mental health and so on. Starting from these problems, many research topics can be formed.

5. Explore topics from various information exchanges.

Many educational problems will appear in conversations, speeches or debates between teachers and students, parents, colleagues and students' friends, as well as in radio, television and newspaper reports. If we pay attention to recording and thinking about them, it may form the subject of educational research. For example, a good class group is not only an indispensable environment for the healthy growth of students, but also a basic unit for the construction of spiritual civilization in schools. It is what students yearn for and what teachers and parents expect. It is also a hot topic in school education. If these arguments are summed up, it will form a series of research topics for class collective construction. Research on the goal and evaluation of excellent class collective: the formation law of good class collective; Research on the cultivation and development of students' personality and "three-self" ability in class collectives: the cultivation and training of basic civilized behavior of students in class collectives, the expression and education of narrow collectivism concepts in class collectives, the dynamic mechanism of the formation of good class collectives, the relationship between the whole class and natural groups, the relationship between teachers' awareness of teaching and educating people and the construction of class collectives, and the relationship between the quality of head teachers and the formation of good class collectives. In-depth study of such topics will certainly play an important role in strengthening school education management, improving teachers' quality and moral education construction in middle schools.

6. Explore topics from the summary of successful education and teaching experience.

Educators have accumulated rich and valuable educational experience from educational practice, and many of them are successful. But it is often fragmentary, unconscious and not scientifically tested. Therefore, these experiences are often "self-defeating" and difficult to popularize. If we use the method of experience summary or experiment to carry out scientific inspection and summary, reveal the relationship between educational measures and educational effects, and abstract and summarize the theory, it is possible to popularize it.

7. Form a topic from the investigation of an educational phenomenon.

In practice, if educators can think carefully about some educational phenomena and conduct in-depth investigations, they will also find and form valuable research topics. For example, the wave of commodity economy development has brought great impetus and impact to school education, and the vast number of educators have strong feelings, but what is the specific situation? It is necessary to carry out quantitative and qualitative analysis and research through in-depth investigation, otherwise some discussions are just general, unable to reveal its essence, and it is even more difficult to make correct educational countermeasures. Therefore, it is very necessary to carry out this kind of review, which has also formed a number of educational and scientific research topics. For example, the investigation of students' weariness, dropping out of school, leaving school and juvenile delinquency and its educational countermeasures, the investigation and educational research of middle school students' ideals, learning purposes, interests, independent consciousness, professional consciousness, values, morality and democracy, and the investigation and research of the working concept and working habits of writing basic civilization and habits; Investigation on the psychological balance ability of school teachers and cadres, and investigation on the education status of children from broken families.

8. Explore topics in various documents.

There are reflections on the achievements and trends of educational scientific research in various theoretical documents, educational newspapers and periodicals, conference exchange papers, thematic data sets, award-winning papers and related subject guides. If you read carefully, you can find out the research topics, which are either problems that others have not noticed, controversial issues, or problems that can be further studied despite progress. For example, in recent ten years, China has made many research achievements in the field of educational economy, but through reading educational books and theoretical documents, we can still find that there are still many problems to be studied. For example, the research on establishing a stable source of education investment and establishing an advanced growth mechanism of education investment, the research on the evaluation of education investment benefit, and the research on material and spirit, remuneration and dedication in the reform of school internal structure salary.

(B) the source of primary and secondary education research topics

There are two main sources of educational research topics in primary and secondary schools, one is the problems that need to be solved in educational practice, and the other is the theoretical problems about education put forward in educational theory documents. The former mainly reflects the practical value of research, while the latter mainly reflects the theoretical value of research. These two kinds of topics are inseparable from the practice of education, so they are of practical significance.

1. Educational practice is the source of educational research topics.

Solving specific problems in the practical work of education is the basic task of educational science research and the focus of educators' research.

Problems in educational practice can be divided into two categories. One is the problem in the macro field, that is, the problem that has a great influence on the overall situation of education. Such as educational system, curriculum, management system and development plan. This kind of subject has a wide range of research objects, a lot of manpower and material resources, a lot of content and data, and a long duration, so the state or education authorities usually organize specialized educational and scientific researchers to conduct research on the subject. The other is the problem in the micro-field, which mainly refers to a specific aspect or a certain scope of education. For educators, these are often the direct sources of topic selection. This kind of topic can be summarized as follows:

(1) Problems in teaching. Teaching is the central task. The problem of students' heavy academic burden, students' learning problems, curriculum reform of basic education, and improving quality and efficiency are all research topics.

(2) Problems in moral education. What kind of people to train is the primary task of the school. How to adapt moral education to the development of the times, reform and opening up and socialist market economy, experimental research on children's moral enlightenment education, patriotic education research, moral education curriculum research, moral emotion education research, and school moral education research under the condition of "one country, two systems" are all topics of educational research.

(3) Educational management research. It is an important viewpoint of modern education to ask for benefits from management and quality from management. How to improve management level, management efficiency, management quality, management system, student management, teacher management, logistics management and so on, which contains a large number of research topics.

(4) Problems in educational reform and development. At present, education in China is in a transitional period. To adapt to the progress of science and technology, reform and opening up and economic and social development, education is changing from "exam-oriented education" to "quality education". In this process, from the renewal of people's ideas to specific operations, the educational reform has raised many new problems for every educator. The full implementation of compulsory education, the modernization of education and the reform of rural education have put forward many research topics for educators.

(5) Problems arising from the internal and external relations of education. From the inside of the education system, primary and secondary education is closely related to vocational education, higher education, adult education and continuing education. From the outside of the education system, education, family education and social education influence and restrict each other. How to deal with these relationships has given us a wealth of topics.

2. Literature analysis of educational theory is an important source of educational research topics.

In the history of human civilization, education, as a social phenomenon, has been studied for a long time, such as Confucius' thoughts of "being constant", "being rich" and "teaching", "venting anger and inspiring", "learning and doing in one" and the systematic proposition of moral education more than 2,000 years ago. Learning Educational Thoughts, A Collection of Confucian Educational Thoughts in Pre-Qin Period, etc. In the history of modern education, from Comenius to Ducheng, educators have made a lot of theoretical discussions on educational phenomena and put forward many educational viewpoints and propositions. From the existing educational theory literature and the educational theory system constructed by predecessors, find and fill in the blank areas, continue to study the unsolved problems they raised, question the predecessors' theories, put forward new opinions and opinions after research, and participate in academic debates and discussions.

Finding topics from practice and selecting topics from theoretical literature complement each other. In a particular discipline, it often has both practical and theoretical value. If the problems arising in practice are worth studying, they are often unsolved in theory. Therefore, the practical problems solved by practical research often have certain theoretical significance, enriching and developing the theory.

(3) The methods of discovery and selection of educational scientific research topics.

The sources of educational research topics are very rich, but it is not easy to really find and choose a good topic, which requires researchers to have considerable knowledge level, analytical ability and keen insight. Educators must be good at finding and choosing topics. Here are some common methods.

1. question screening

This is a common method used by educators. In actual educational activities, we often encounter or produce a lot of problems. By sorting out these problems, and then analyzing their importance and significance, we can determine their research value, and listen to opinions extensively, and choose the problems with obvious value that are suitable for our research level and ability as the subject.

2. Experience refining

This is a method that educators can use to find and choose topics. Comrades who have been engaged in education for a long time have generally found a lot of experience in their own practice. How to sum up experience and rise to the height of theory is bound to answer a series of questions, so one research topic appears. For example, many principals have accumulated a lot of experience in the construction of teaching staff, such as "strict requirements", "respect for trust" and "emotional investment". Do these experiences have universal significance? Are teachers of different ages and personalities the same? Is there any theoretical basis for these practices? Do they have the same function? Is there a second time without a master? Thus formed the research topic.

Step 3 search for information

The ancients said: "It is better to believe in books than to have no books", and there are often a lot of scientific research topics hidden in materials. Questioning data refers to analyzing relevant data, comparing different viewpoints, questioning predecessors' conclusions and revealing the differences between theory and practice. , from which research topics are generated.

4. Present situation analysis

That is, through the analysis of the current situation of education, we can find or expose the problems existing in education, so as to choose the appropriate topic.

5. Intention conversion

Educators may sometimes have a sudden intention to explore an educational problem, which is actually a reflection of some educational practice or theoretical information accumulated in their thinking. If this intention cannot be captured in time, it may be fleeting; If we grasp it tightly, it may lead to a research topic. When this intention appears, if we can think further, the problem will gradually become clear; At the same time, the specific situation of related issues is further investigated, the corresponding literature is consulted, and the objective conditions such as its research value and self-enlightenment ability are analyzed, thus forming a formal topic.

Three. General steps of selecting topics for educational scientific research projects

Investigate and study, ask questions

The topic begins with the question. In order to raise new questions and determine the starting point of research work, it is necessary to understand the research situation of predecessors or others, conduct in-depth and meticulous investigation and study, understand the historical facts of the development of related research topics, the research level and future development trend of the topics, and find out the subjective and objective conditions of research.

There are three methods of investigation and research: consulting materials, on-site investigation and expert consultation.

1. Get information

Access to information can examine and demonstrate whether the topic has research value, absorb and digest other people's research results in related fields, and understand their own research level and current research trends. Only in this way can we establish our main direction on the basis of previous studies, so as to make the research topic concrete and in-depth. Obtaining information can also help us understand other people's ideas or new research methods, introduce new ideas and viewpoints from neighboring disciplines, and get inspiration from them. You can also learn from the experience and lessons of others' success or failure for your own comparison and reference, and take fewer detours or detours.

survey

Research in the front line of educational practice is conducive to finding problems and forming topics. Before the investigation, the purpose of the investigation should be made clear, the investigation outline should be drawn up, and the investigation form should be designed, so as to make the investigation true, comprehensive, systematic and reliable. In the investigation, we should pay attention to listen to the opinions of educational practitioners and analyze educational problems.

3. Expert consultation

Consulting experts or people with research experience in a certain field can be inspired and used for reference, and sometimes it is necessary to listen to opinions from all sides repeatedly to achieve the purpose of brainstorming.

(2) Analysis and synthesis of data

The data obtained in the investigation should be summarized, analyzed and synthesized. The first step is to discard the false and retain the true, and keep the authentic and reliable materials; The second step is to analyze the relationship between various materials and find out the internal relations and problems; The third step is to screen the collected questions; The fourth step is to propose a topic or project.

(3) Propose the idea and design of the subject.

On the basis of investigation and data analysis, the title of the topic should be determined first. Secondly, it is necessary to clarify the research purpose and significance of the subject, and clarify the problems to be solved and the expected goals to be achieved. And the research level and trend of this subject in China (or region). Thirdly, the methods, approaches, steps, funds, equipment and means used in the research are put forward.

(4) Pre-experiment or pre-investigation

For some comprehensive, important, complex and exploratory educational experimental research topics, it is often necessary to conduct pre-experiments or pre-investigations. Through the simulation study, the proposed research objectives, methods, approaches and research contents are preliminarily demonstrated.

These four steps can also be collectively called prologue.

(V) Establishment of the subject

After the topic is selected, the researcher shall submit the Declaration Form for Educational Research Topics (Projects) to the relevant administrative department of education and scientific research or the administrative department of education. The contents of the declaration form are:

1. Subject name, research category, research start and end time. Among them, research categories generally refer to basic theoretical research and applied research.

2. The person in charge of the research project, participants, undertaking units, cooperation or collaboration units and division of labor.