《格致须知》与中国近代新式教科书

“Gezhi Xuzhi” and the New Textbooks in Modern China

1882年开始出版的《格致须知》是中国近代史上第一套由专设教科书机构专为学堂学生教学而编撰的新式教科书。这套教科书作为中国近代新式教科书的先导，按照西方近代学科门类分科设编，使得近代科学知识系统地成为学堂教学的主要内容。这套教科书没有以科学证明宗教，而是关注科学实验和方法、强调儿童的认知规律，对于学童认识和理解近代科学，成为新型知识分子奠定了基础作用。但其存在基本要素不全，科目难称齐全，内容也较为偏深等不足。

“Gezhi Xuzhi” (The Knowledge of Science), which was published in 1882, is the first set of textbooks complied by the professional organization for school students. As the forerunner in the field of new textbooks in modern China, the set of textbooks was complied according to Western disciplines, which made the modern system of scientific knowledge as the main content of classroom instruction. The textbooks did not prove religion with scientific evidence; instead, they focused on scientific experiments and methods and emphasized children's cognitive laws. “Gezhi Xuzhi” played a fundamental role in helping students understand modern science and become new scholars. However, the textbooks also bear limitations, such as the incompletion of basic elements, the missing of some subjects, and the contents being reletatively abstruse.