Research Essay

My question is would a change in the school curriculum affect a student’s willingness to learn?
I have researched a numerous amount of articles that express not the authors opinions, but facts on experiments that tested how a changed curriculum would affect students for the better, or for worse. Now, I’ll be displaying all the articles that I researched.

The first of my 5 articles was called "A comparative study of effect of new and old
science curriculum on Chinese junior high school
students’ abstract thinking" by Hu Weiping, Chen Ming. Basically it's a study that shows Students that are taught the new curriculum have a higher abstract thinking ability than those being taught the old curriculum.This relates to my question because it shows how a change in curriculum can benefit students.

The next article is also based in China but talks more about the schools. The article is called
"Teacher development under curriculum reform: a case
study of a secondary school in mainland China" by Manhong Lai. This article talks about how teachers in Chinese secondary schools are planning on making the curriculum more focused on what students want to learn, rather than what teachers want them to learn. This article links back to my question in the sense that it talks about what students want to learn, instead of school administration or teachers.

Even though I talk about a change in curriculum, what exactly would be new if we were to change it? This article speaks of an idea to change high school curriculum and add a new unit in the science course. "Bringing Engineering Design into High School Science
Classrooms: The Heating/Cooling Unit" by Xornam S, Apedoe, Birdy Reynolds,Michelle R. Ellefson and Christian D. Schunn is that article and it explains how they would like to change school curriculum by incorporation engineering units in science classes. This article talks about a change in the curriculum, which is what my question is all about.

The next article is called "Lessons Learned Concerning
A Student Centered Teaching Style
By  University Mathematics Professors
From Secondary School Educators" by Phyllis Shumaucher AND Kristin T. Kennedy. This article explores the methodologies of student based teaching and also discusses how Secondary School Math Teachers seem to be doing it better than University-Grade Professors. In one way or another this links back to my question because it talks about teachers that teach in ways different than the traditional methods.

As you can see from the last article, there are different ways to teach the subject. This final article goes more in depth into another way learning known as Aesthetic Learning. The article is called" Reflections on Aesthetic Learning" by Marina Sotiropoulou- Zorm pala. This article talks about how aesthetic learning is more enriching than traditional learning. Aesthetic learning is more hands on and discussion based to get the students to feel more connected to the subject. This one also reflects upon my question in the sense that it talks about new ways of teaching that are better than the old ways of teaching.

After researching and reading numerous articles, I have concluded that a change in the school curriculum will positively affect a student’s willingness to learn. A change in curriculum can incorporate new ways of teaching, focusing on what the student wants to learn, adding in new subjects that may interest students and may increase their willingness to learn at school.