Unit1 Scientists-Reading B-Critical Thinking 讲义-2025-2026学年高中英语沪外版选择性必修第二册

Unit 1 Scientists-Reading B-Critical Thinking 教学目标和重难点 教学目标 Language Ability: Students can master key words and sentence patterns related to scientists and their achievements, and improve their abilities to understand, analyze and express critical views in English. Cultural Awareness: Students can understand the scientific spirit of scientists from different backgrounds, respect the diversity of scientific exploration, and establish the awareness of combining scientific pursuit with social responsibility. Thinking Quality: Students can develop critical thinking skills, learn to question, analyze and evaluate the views and arguments in the text, and form logical thinking habits. Learning Ability: Students can master effective reading and critical thinking strategies, improve their ability of independent learning and cooperative inquiry, and lay a foundation for lifelong learning. 教学重难点 Key Points: Mastering the key vocabulary and sentence structures in the text to accurately understand the main content and the scientists’ ideas; mastering the basic methods of critical thinking in reading, such as questioning the text’s arguments and analyzing the rationality of the evidence. Difficult Points: Applying critical thinking skills to analyze and evaluate the scientists’ views and the logical relationship of the text; expressing personal critical opinions in fluent and accurate English combined with the text content. 教学过程 Step 1: Lead-in (Lead-in Activity) The teacher starts the class by showing pictures of several famous scientists (such as Hawking, Curie and Newton) and playing a short video clip about their scientific exploration experiences. After the video, the teacher asks the following questions in English: “What do you know about these scientists? What qualities do you think a great scientist should have? Do you think all the views and discoveries of scientists are correct?” Then, the teacher invites 2-3 students to share their answers. After the sharing, the teacher summarizes: “Scientists have made great contributions to human progress with their wisdom and perseverance, but their views may also be affected by the times and objective conditions. Today, we will learn Reading B and use critical thinking to explore the content of the text.” Design Intention: The lead-in activity combines pictures and videos to arouse students’ interest in the topic of scientists, activate their existing knowledge reserve about scientists, and lay a foundation for the subsequent reading and critical thinking training. The last question deliberately guides students to think beyond the surface, subtly introduces the core of critical thinking—questioning and evaluating, and naturally leads to the theme of this lesson. Step 2: Pre-reading (Vocabulary and Background Preview) First, the teacher presents the key vocabulary and phrases in Reading B on the screen, including “critical thinking, hypothesis, evidence, verify, contradict, perspective, innovative, rigorous” and so on. For each word, the teacher explains its meaning in simple English, gives example sentences related to scientific exploration, and invites students to make sentences with the words to ensure that students can understand and use these words flexibly. For example, when explaining “verify”, the teacher says: “To verify means to check if something is true or correct. For example, scientists do experiments to verify their hypotheses.” Then, students are asked to work in pairs to make sentences with the words, and each pair shares one sentence with the whole class. Next, the teacher briefly introduces the background of the text: The text mainly introduces the process of several scientists putting forward hypotheses, conducting experiments and revising their views, which reflects the spirit of scientific exploration and the importance of critical thinking. The teacher emphasizes: “In scientific research, there is no absolute truth. Scientists often put forward hypotheses, verify them through experiments, and even revise their own views when facing new evidence. This is exactly the embodiment of critical thinking.” Design Intention: Vocabulary is the foundation of reading and expression. Previewing key vocabulary helps students eliminate language barriers in reading, so that they can focus more on critical thinking activities in the subsequent reading process. The background introduction helps students understand the context of the text, clarify the connection between the text content and critical thinking, and lay a cognitive foundation for the in-depth analysis of the text. Step 3: While-reading (In-depth Reading and Critical Thinking Guidance) This step is divided into three parts: fast reading, careful reading and critical analysis, to guide students to gradually deepen their understanding of the text and develop critical thinking skills. First, Fast Reading: The teacher asks students to read the text quickly and answer two questions: 1. What is the main idea of the text? 2. How many scientists are mentioned in the text, and what are their main contributions or views? After students finish reading, the teacher invites students to answer the questions, and then summarizes the main idea of the text: The text takes several scientists as examples to illustrate that critical thinking is very important in scientific exploration, and scientists need to question, verify and revise their views constantly in the process of research. Design Intention: Fast reading aims to train students’ ability to grasp the main idea of the text quickly, help students establish the overall framework of the text, and lay a foundation for careful reading and critical analysis. The two questions are designed to guide students to focus on the core content of the text and the key information of scientists, which is closely related to the theme of the lesson. Second, Careful Reading: The teacher asks students to read the text carefully paragraph by paragraph, and guides students to extract key information and sort out the logical relationship of the text. The teacher designs guiding questions for each paragraph: For example, for the paragraph about a certain scientist, the teacher asks: “What hypothesis did the scientist put forward? What evidence did he use to support his hypothesis? Did his hypothesis change later? If so, what caused the change?” Students are asked to read independently first, underline the key information in the text, and then discuss with their group members to sort out the answers to the questions. After the discussion, each group selects a representative to share the discussion results, and the teacher comments and supplements, helping students clarify the logical process of each scientist’s scientific exploration. In the process of careful reading, the teacher focuses on guiding students to pay attention to the words and sentences that reflect critical thinking, such as “however, but, on the other hand, this contradicts the previous view, further experiments show that” and so on. The teacher explains: “These words and sentences often indicate the turn or revision of the author’s or scientists’ views, which is the key to our critical analysis of the text.” Design Intention: Careful reading is the key link to understand the text in depth. Guiding students to read paragraph by paragraph and answer targeted questions helps students grasp the details of the text and sort out the logical relationship of the text. Focusing on the words and sentences reflecting critical thinking helps students perceive the application of critical thinking in the text, and lay a foundation for the subsequent critical analysis activities. Third, Critical Analysis: On the basis of careful reading, the teacher guides students to carry out critical thinking activities, focusing on questioning and evaluating the views and arguments in the text. The teacher puts forward the following guiding questions: 1. Do you think the evidence used by the scientists in the text is sufficient to support their hypotheses? Why or why not? 2. Are there any limitations in the scientists’ views mentioned in the text? If so, what are they? (Combined with the historical background and objective conditions at that time) 3. If you were the scientist, would you put forward the same hypothesis? What would you do differently to verify the hypothesis? 4. What can we learn from the process of scientists revising their views? Students are divided into groups of 4-5 to discuss these questions. During the discussion, the teacher walks around the classroom, listens to the discussion of each group, and gives appropriate guidance when students encounter difficulties. For example, when students are not sure whether the evidence is sufficient, the teacher guides them: “We can think about whether the evidence is objective, whether there are other factors that may affect the results of the experiment, and whether the experiment can be repeated.” After the discussion, each group shares their views, and the teacher guides students to express their views clearly and logically, and encourages students to put forward different opinions. For example, if a group thinks that a scientist’s evidence is insufficient, the teacher asks them to explain the reasons combined with the text content; if another group holds different views, the teacher encourages them to argue reasonably, so as to stimulate the collision of students’ thinking. Design Intention: Critical analysis is the core of this lesson. By putting forward guiding questions, students are guided to break the habit of passive acceptance of text content, learn to question and evaluate, and develop critical thinking skills. Group discussion provides a platform for students to exchange views, which helps students learn from each other, broaden their thinking, and improve their ability of cooperative inquiry and language expression. The teacher’s guidance ensures that the critical thinking activities can be carried out in depth and effectively. Step 4: Post-reading (Consolidation and Application) This step is divided into two parts: language consolidation and critical thinking application, to help students consolidate the knowledge learned and apply critical thinking skills flexibly. First, Language Consolidation: The teacher arranges a vocabulary and sentence pattern exercise. The exercise includes two parts: 1. Fill in the blanks with the key words and phrases learned in the pre-reading part, and ensure that the sentences are consistent with the context of the text. 2. Rewrite the key sentences in the text with the learned sentence patterns, and express the same meaning in different ways. For example, the teacher asks students to rewrite “Scientists revised their hypothesis because new evidence contradicted it” into “New evidence contradicted the hypothesis, so scientists revised it.” After students finish the exercise, the teacher checks the answers, explains the common mistakes, and emphasizes the flexible use of vocabulary and sentence patterns. Design Intention: Language consolidation helps students deepen their memory and understanding of key vocabulary and sentence patterns, and improve their ability of language application. The exercise is closely combined with the text content, which not only consolidates the language knowledge, but also reviews the core content of the text. Second, Critical Thinking Application: The teacher designs a practical task: “Suppose you are a science reporter, and you are going to interview a scientist (you can choose any scientist mentioned in the text or other famous scientists). You need to prepare 3-5 interview questions, which should reflect critical thinking. For example, you can ask the scientist about the limitations of his research, or how he deals with different views on his research.” Students are asked to complete the task independently first, then exchange their interview questions with their deskmates, and revise and improve them according to their deskmates’ suggestions. Finally, the teacher invites several students to share their interview questions, and comments on them, focusing on whether the questions reflect critical thinking and whether they are reasonable and targeted. The teacher also encourages students to simulate the interview scene, with one student acting as the scientist and the other as the reporter, to practice expressing critical views in English. In addition, the teacher extends the task: “After class, you can choose a scientific discovery that you are interested in, collect relevant information, and use the critical thinking methods learned in this lesson to analyze and evaluate the discovery, and write a short article (about 150 words).” Design Intention: The practical task of interview question design helps students apply the critical thinking skills learned in the lesson to real scenarios, improve their ability of critical thinking and language expression. The simulation interview activity increases the interactivity and interest of the class, making students more actively involved in the learning process. The after-class extension task helps students consolidate the critical thinking methods, connect the classroom learning with real life, and cultivate their ability of independent learning and exploration. Step 5: Summary and Reflection First, Summary: The teacher invites students to summarize the content of this lesson independently. Students are asked to talk about what they have learned in this lesson, including key vocabulary, the main content of the text, and the methods of critical thinking in reading. After several students share their summaries, the teacher makes a comprehensive summary: “In this lesson, we learned Reading B about scientists and their scientific exploration process, mastered the key vocabulary and sentence patterns related to scientific research and critical thinking, and more importantly, we learned how to use critical thinking to question, analyze and evaluate the content of the text. Critical thinking is not only important in scientific exploration, but also in our daily study and life. It can help us make more rational judgments and decisions.” Second, Reflection: The teacher guides students to reflect on their own learning process: “In this lesson, did you actively participate in the group discussion? Did you put forward your own critical views? What difficulties did you encounter in the process of critical analysis, and how did you solve them? What aspects do you need to improve in the future?” Students are asked to think quietly for a few minutes, then share their reflections with the class. The teacher listens carefully to students’ reflections, gives positive affirmation to their gains, and puts forward targeted suggestions for their deficiencies. For example, if a student says that he is not good at expressing his critical views in English, the teacher suggests: “You can accumulate more relevant sentence patterns in daily study, and practice expressing your views boldly in group activities.” Design Intention: Summary helps students sort out the knowledge learned in the lesson, form a systematic knowledge framework, and deepen their understanding of the core content of the lesson. Reflection helps students realize their own gains and deficiencies in the learning process, cultivate their ability of self-reflection, and provide direction for their future learning. The teacher’s affirmation and suggestions can enhance students’ learning confidence and promote their continuous progress. Step 6: Homework Arrangement 1. Finish the after-class extension task: Collect information about a scientific discovery, use critical thinking methods to analyze and evaluate it, and write a short article (about 150 words) in English. 2. Review the key vocabulary and sentence patterns learned in this lesson, and make a vocabulary card. 3. Preview the next lesson, and try to use the critical thinking methods learned to read the preview content and put forward 1-2 questions. Design Intention: The homework arrangement is closely combined with the content of the lesson, which not only helps students consolidate the knowledge and skills learned, but also extends the learning content, guides students to apply critical thinking in daily learning, and cultivates their ability of independent learning and exploration. The vocabulary card making helps students strengthen their memory of vocabulary, and the preview task lays a foundation for the next lesson. Throughout the teaching process, the teacher adheres to the student-centered concept, guides students to participate in various learning activities actively, focuses on the cultivation of students’ four-dimensional core literacy, especially the training of critical thinking skills, and combines language learning with thinking training organically, so as to achieve the teaching goal of improving students’ comprehensive English ability and critical thinking ability. 1 / 1 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $