After two wonderful lectures by Professor Heidi Ross, on Feb 23rd, she gave another lecture about The Why, What, and How of CIE Comparative Methodology, sharing her views and points with our faculty and students.

    The lecture was made up of three parts. Firstly, through the definition, she compared the differences and similarities between “method” and “methodology”. Secondly, she analyzed WHY COMPARE? COMPARE WHAT? and COMPARE HOW? Finally, through a video, Preschool in Different Cultures, in America、China and Japan, she compared schools in China, the US, and Japan.

    In the section on WHY COMPARE?, she mentioned three dimensions——scientific、pragmatic and global, and insisted that these three dimensions could contribute to the development of an increasingly sophisticated theoretical framework in which to describe and analyze educational phenomena, and that they could even help foster cooperation and mutual understanding among nations by discussing cultural differences and similarities and offering explanations for them.

    In COMPARE HOW?, she mentioned multilevel analysis (3D, as geographic、demographic and aspects of education and society) and ethnography in comparative education, which can help us make the familiar world of schooling strange and the strange world of schooling familiar.

    During and after the video broadcast, our faculty and students engaged in discussions with Professor Ross and obtained many benefits from this lecture. At last, Professor Xu Xiaozhou, the Deputy Dean of the College of Education, expressed his appreciation for her great lectures and gave her special gifts on behalf of our college.