Since 1980s, China scholars have been studying and exploring autonomous learning. Some scholars regard autonomous learning as a learning activity, some scholars regard autonomous learning as a learning process, and some scholars regard autonomous learning as a learning model. No matter what their views are, their understanding of autonomous learning has one thing in common, that is, autonomous learning is a dynamic and selective learning activity conducted by students through various ways and channels under the guidance of teachers. In this activity, students actively acquire knowledge, form skills, develop abilities and improve their personality. Autonomous learning attaches importance to the educational atmosphere of independent cooperation, which can actively play the students' subjective initiative and creative spirit. Autonomous learning has the following characteristics:
1. Students learn independently under the guidance of teachers. The traditional teaching method is that teachers monopolize the podium and adopt "spoon-feeding" teaching methods, and students passively accept knowledge. Autonomous learning focuses on students' independent exploration and learning under the guidance of teachers, and students change from passive acceptance of knowledge to active acquisition of knowledge. In terms of teaching methods, it has changed from simple oral teaching to stimulating students' intrinsic learning motivation. In terms of teaching methods, students are instructed to use modern teaching methods (such as multimedia computers and computer networks), actively build their own knowledge structure and ability structure, and complete learning tasks independently.
2. Give full play to students' initiative. Constructivism attaches great importance to students' subjective position and holds that knowledge is constructed subjectively. Autonomous learning is not directly told by teachers how to solve the problems faced by students, but by teachers to provide students with clues to solve problems, thus developing students' autonomous learning ability.
3. Openness of learning. Autonomous learning is not limited by time, place, teaching materials and other conditions. It pays attention to students' independent choice of time and place, independent choice of learning methods and contents, independent formulation of learning plans, independent feedback and evaluation of learning, and more open learning.
4. Cooperative learning. Although autonomous learning has the characteristics of independence, it is not an individual's closed learning and is essentially different from autonomous learning. Students can choose their study partners according to their own learning situation and characteristics. Communicate with each other, help each other and learn from each other's strengths in the learning process.
5. Creativity in learning. Autonomous learning is not a simple copy of learning content by students, but a re-creation of knowledge by students according to their own learning needs. Carry out creative learning and creative problem solving in the whole learning process.
Second, how should teachers guide students to learn independently?
According to the characteristics of autonomous learning, teachers should guide students' autonomous learning from the following aspects.
1. Strengthen scientific guidance. When Vygotsky explained the relationship between teaching and development, he put forward the viewpoint of "zone of proximal development" [1](p36). In his view, when determining the level of children's development and teaching, we must consider two levels of children's development, one of which refers to the level at which children can solve problems under the guidance of adults and with the help of adults, or the higher level they can reach with the help of others. Therefore, scientific guidance is very important for children's development. Autonomous learning puts forward higher requirements for teachers' learning guidance. Whether teachers' guidance is scientific or not directly affects students' learning quality. Scientific guidance first requires teachers to fully understand students' personality characteristics, cognitive ability, learning methods and other factors; Secondly, we should follow certain teaching principles and avoid blind guidance process. Many teaching principles have absorbed the outstanding educational heritage in history and the important achievements of foreign teaching theories, and have been constantly reformed with new practical experience and scientific achievements, which have certain characteristics of nationalization and modernization. In autonomous learning, students and teachers are in a state of quasi-separation, and students and teachers are the main bodies of learning and teaching respectively, so we can't just emphasize one aspect and ignore the role of the other.
2. Give full play to students' subjective initiative and creativity. On the basis of establishing people's realistic objectivity, Marx also emphasized people's subjective initiative, and believed that people's activities were not satisfied with the objective environment given by the existing external world and simply copied historical conditions, but always tried their best to "apply the internal scale to the object" [2]. Students' learning is an internal, positive and promoting process. Teachers should help students to establish the learning concept of "I want to learn" in the learning process and fully mobilize students' subjective initiative. Students should not be regarded as "containers" carrying knowledge. Book knowledge is the summary of people's social practice experience for thousands of years, which can be called the essence of knowledge. If there is no active thinking and personal practice of students in the learning process, then this knowledge can only be some "dead" knowledge. Students' learning process is not a simple process of copying teaching information, but a process of re-recognizing new knowledge by using existing knowledge in their minds. Realize the re-creation of knowledge in the cognitive process, thus transforming it into your own learning results. Ausubel believes that meaningful learning occurs when students relate teaching content to their cognitive structure. The so-called cognitive structure refers to the quantity, clarity and organizational structure of existing knowledge, which is composed of facts, concepts, propositions and theories that students can recall at the moment. Therefore, in order to promote the learning of new textbooks, we must first strengthen the concepts related to new textbooks in students' cognitive structure.
3. Strengthen educational practice.
Only when students' understanding reaches the expected result in the process of social practice can their understanding be confirmed. Students' learning needs to be tested in many aspects, such as independent thinking, hands-on operation, social communication and social survival, before it can become real learning. In this activity, teachers should provide learning support services for students' learning process and attach importance to the whole process of students' educational practice.
Thirdly, the change of teachers' role.
Autonomous learning has fundamentally changed the traditional way of learning, which requires a fundamental change in the role of teachers. Teachers should change from teachers to collaborators of students' learning, creators of learning environment, developers of learning resources, directors of learning activities, participants in learning evaluation and correctors of learning feedback. Teachers are no longer the authority of knowledge, and students share the right to choose and make decisions in learning objectives, learning contents, learning methods and learning evaluation.
1. Students' study partners. Although autonomous learning has the characteristics of independence, it still needs equal dialogue and sincere cooperation between teachers and students to realize cooperative learning in which individuals collide with each other. In the article "On the Expectation of Teachers' Role in Curriculum Reform", Mr. Liu Liqun put forward the viewpoint of "from teachers to teachers and students", arguing that real teaching is not a process in which teachers transfer knowledge to students unilaterally, but a process in which teachers and students jointly create educational experience in a certain educational situation. Therefore, while teachers teach students knowledge, teachers themselves will also benefit from students. Students are also educating teachers when they are being taught. They form a learning community and grow together. Teachers who participate in autonomous learning as collaborators must have a democratic and equal teaching style, position themselves as students' learning partners, listeners of opinions and sharers of achievements, create a cooperative, mutual, democratic and open learning environment for students, and advocate equal dialogue and consultation between teachers and students, thus promoting the cultivation of students' cooperative consciousness and ability. Through cooperation, the communication between teachers and students can be promoted, and teachers and students can accept, appreciate and argue with each other, and constantly reflect and criticize their own and others' views.
2. The creator of the learning environment. Autonomous learning is inseparable from the creation of learning environment, which is open. Students can choose their own learning content, learning process, learning methods and learning partners, and teachers should not interfere, let alone impose their own ideas on students. Teachers should create a harmonious and relaxed learning environment for students.
3. Developers of learning resources
Textbooks and workbooks were once the only materials for teachers' teaching and students' learning. However, due to the defects of relative obsolescence and slow updating, it is impossible to show the latest educational achievements to students in time, which is very unfavorable for expanding students' knowledge. Now many schools attach great importance to the role of information technology in school education and teaching, and many schools have strengthened the hardware configuration and software development of media teaching. Teachers can use modern teaching methods such as campus multimedia network to develop digital teaching materials which are suitable for students' learning, and are illustrated with pictures and texts, so as to satisfy students' ability to acquire knowledge through multiple senses. Trechler's research on the relationship between human emotion, learning and memory shows that learners' academic performance 1% comes from taste, 1.5% from touch, 3.5% from smell, 83% from vision and1%from hearing [3]. This shows that digital teaching materials can let multiple senses participate in learning and effectively enhance students' memory ability. In addition, it can also provide students with learning websites of related disciplines to guide them to absorb nutrition in the ocean of the network.
4. Instructor of learning activities. The word "guidance" is interpreted as "pointing and guiding" in Modern Chinese Dictionary (Beijing: Commercial Press, 1983). In the past, the so-called "learning guidance" was that students turned around the teacher. After teachers find the problems and crux of students' knowledge, they prescribe the right medicine and guide students to the standard answers established by teachers by solving doubts and doubts. The way of thinking of teachers and students is to seek common ground while reserving differences. Although this way of learning is conducive to students' acceptance of knowledge, it is not conducive to the formation of students' innovative consciousness and the cultivation of innovative ability. Autonomous learning gives a new meaning to "pointing and guiding", that is, the teacher's role is not to tell students ready-made answers, but to let students find and solve problems themselves in the learning process, and the teacher can prompt them in time. Students actively construct their own knowledge in the process of finding and solving problems, thus improving their ability to find and solve problems.
5. Participants in learning evaluation. Students' learning should be evaluated in stages and summatively. There are many evaluation methods: individual self-evaluation, group mutual evaluation, and the combination of group, individual evaluation and teacher evaluation. No matter which evaluation method is adopted, the principle of fair and just evaluation should be reflected. As participants, teachers should first explain the purpose, methods and principles of evaluation to students. Secondly, we should monitor the whole evaluation process; Third, actively do a good job in learning evaluation of underachievers and encourage them to make progress in time; Fourthly, as participants in learning evaluation, teachers should understand students' learning motivation, listen to their learning requirements, participate in their learning process, share their learning happiness and promote their emotional communication; Fifth, teachers, as participants in learning activities, can find and master the difficulties and problems that students encounter in learning at any time, teach students in accordance with their aptitude and give targeted guidance.
6. Learning feedback corrector. Teachers' guidance on students' learning feedback is a learning process that enables students to find their own learning deficiencies and prompt them to correct them in time. In the process of autonomous learning, learners often don't know what their learning level is and whether their learning strategies are correct, which seriously affects the learning quality of learners. Timely learning feedback can enable teachers to help students adjust their learning strategies, correct mistakes in time, avoid blindness in learning, and thus improve learning efficiency.