Abstract:

This is an experimental report on mathematics teaching reform conducted in an urban-rural fringe area in the west of Shanghai. From 1977 to 2022, this 45-year experiment has witnessed a change of Chinese society from Reform and Opening up to educational modernization. In the early part of the experiment, we found an effective way to improve the quality of education in common conditions. We summed up a Chinese experience that students learn from variant experience and teachers grew up in action research. In the later part, we focused on ability and accomplishment objectives, and we found out some key initiatives to improve students’ inquiry and innovation ability. Then these results brought some actual effect and a positive social impact. The whole report gathered practice crystallization of three generations of old, middle-aged and young people. This experiment went through three stages: first, improving the educational quality generally and dramatically from a very low (1977—1992); second, prioritizing comprehension so as to break through the bottleneck of high cognition (1992—2007); third, perfecting teaching research to promote inquiry and creativity (2007—2022).

Key words: Qingpu education reform experiment, variant experience, action education, creative traceability