A review and critique of context-based physics instruction and assessment

Anzai, 1991, Learning and use of representations for physics expertise, 64 Astin, 2002, Finding physics in the real world: How to teach physics effectively with visits, Physics Education, 37, 18, 10.1088/0031-9120/37/1/302 Barber, M. (2001). A comparison of NEAB and Salters A-level Chemistry: Student views and achievements. Unpublished MA Thesis, University of York, UK. Barker, V., & Millar, R. (1996). Differences between Salters’ and traditional A-level chemistry students’ understanding of basic chemical ideas. Science Education Research Paper 96/05. York, UK: University of York. Bassok, 1997, Two types of reliance on correlations between content and structure in reasoning about word problems, 221 Benbow, 1986, Mathematically talented males and females and achievement in the high school sciences, American Educational Research Journal, 23, 425, 10.3102/00028312023003425 Benckert, S. (1997). Context and conversation in physics education. Unpublished study. Bennett, 2005, Context-based and conventional approaches to teaching chemistry: Comparing teachers’ views, International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1521, 10.1080/09500690500153808 Bloom, 2003, Integrating pharmacology topics in high school biology and chemistry classes improves performance, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 922, 10.1002/tea.10116 Briscoe, 2004, Teaching future K-8 teachers the language of Newton: A case study of collaboration and change in university physics teaching, Science Education, 88, 947, 10.1002/sce.20005 Buck, 2007, Learning how to make inquiry into electricity and magnetism discernible to middle level teachers, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 18, 377, 10.1007/s10972-007-9053-8 Burton, 1995, Salters advanced chemistry: A revolution in pre-college chemistry, Journal of Chemical Education, 72, 227, 10.1021/ed072p227 Chang, 1999, Comparison of Taiwan's students’ outcomes with inquiry-group versus traditional instruction, Journal of Educational Research, 92, 340, 10.1080/00220679909597617 1992, The Jasper series as an example of anchored instruction: Theory, program, description, and assessment data, Educational Psychologist, 27, 291, 10.1207/s15326985ep2703_3 Colicchia, 2005, Sit up straight! It's good physics, Physics Education, 40, 365, 10.1088/0031-9120/40/4/007 Cooper, 2003, Australian students’ views on nuclear issues: Does teaching alter prior beliefs?, Physics Education, 38, 123, 10.1088/0031-9120/38/2/303 Crawford, 2001 Dufresne, 1996, Classtalk: A classroom communication system for active learning, Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 7, 3, 10.1007/BF02948592 Enghag, M. (2004). Miniprojects and context rich problems: Case studies with analysis of motivation, learner ownership and competence in small group work in physics. Unpublished Thesis, Linköping University, Sweden. Featonby, 2005, Toys and physics, Physics Education, 40, 537, 10.1088/0031-9120/40/6/005 Finkelstein, N. (2001). Context in the context of physics and learning. Unpublished study. Finkelstein, 2005, Learning physics in context: A study of student learning about electricity and magnetism, International Journal of Science Education, 27, 1187, 10.1080/09500690500069491 Glynn, 2005, The contextual teaching and learning instructional approach, 75 Gomez, 1995, Students’ ideas on conservation of matter: Effects of expertise and context variables, Science Education, 79, 77, 10.1002/sce.3730790106 Greeno, 1998, The situativity of knowing, learning, and research, American Psychologist, 53, 5, 10.1037/0003-066X.53.1.5 Hake, 1998, Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses, American Journal of Physics, 66, 64, 10.1119/1.18809 Harp, 1998, How seductive details do their damage: A theory of cognitive interest in science learning, Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 414, 10.1037/0022-0663.90.3.414 Heller, 1992, Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 2: Designing problems and structuring groups, American Journal of Physics, 60, 637, 10.1119/1.17118 Hestenes, 1987, Towards a modeling theory of physics instruction, American Journal of Physics, 55, 440, 10.1119/1.15129 Holman, 1991, A new look at A-level chemistry, Chemistry in Britain, 27, 813 Jones, 2000, Gender differences in students’ experiences, interests, and attitudes toward science and scientists, Science Education, 84, 180, 10.1002/(SICI)1098-237X(200003)84:2<180::AID-SCE3>3.0.CO;2-X Kang, 2005, Secondary science teachers’ use of laboratory activities: Linking epistemological beliefs, goals, and practices, Science Education, 89, 140, 10.1002/sce.20013 Kaschalk, 2002, Physics—Why bother? … that's why!, Contextual Teaching Exchange, 1, 1 King, 2002, Earth science contexts for teaching physics. Part 1: Why teach physics in an Earth science context?, Physics Education, 37, 467, 10.1088/0031-9120/37/6/301 Kittleson, 2004, The role of discourse in group knowledge construction: A case study of engineering students, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 267, 10.1002/tea.20003 Larkin, 1980, Models of competence in solving physics problems, Cognitive Science, 4, 317, 10.1207/s15516709cog0404_1 Larkin, 1980, Expert and novice performance in solving physics problems, Science, 208, 1335, 10.1126/science.208.4450.1335 Lave, 1988 Lemke, 1990 Leonard, 1996, Using qualitative problem-solving strategies to highlight the role of conceptual knowledge in solving problems, American Journal of Physics, 64, 1495, 10.1119/1.18409 Linder, 2006, Using a variation approach to enhance physics learning in a college classroom, The Physics Teacher, 44, 589, 10.1119/1.2396777 Lye, 2001, What does it mean to teach physics in context: A first case study, Australian Science Teachers Journal, 48, 16 McCarthy, 2000, Active learning techniques versus traditional teaching styles: Two experiments from history and political science, Innovative Higher Education, 24, 279, 10.1023/B:IHIE.0000047415.48495.05 McDermott, 1991, What we teach and what is learned—Closing the gap, American Journal of Physics, 59, 301, 10.1119/1.16539 Mestre, 1993, Promoting skilled problem-solving behavior among beginning physics students, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 30, 303, 10.1002/tea.3660300306 Meyer, 2002, Using instructional discourse analysis to study the scaffolding of student self-regulation, Educational Psychologist, 37, 17, 10.1207/S15326985EP3701_3 Michael, V. (2005). Six flags for teachers. http://www.slapt.org/. Retrieved November 7, 2005 from St. Louis area physics teachers. Murphy, 2006, The impact of authentic learning on students’ engagement with physics, The Curriculum Journal, 17, 229, 10.1080/09585170600909688 Murphy, P., & Whitelegg, E. (2006). Girls in the physics classroom: A review of the research into the participation of girls in physics. Institute of Physics Report. National Research Council, 1996 Neto, A. J., & Valente, M. O. (2005). Problem solving in physics: Towards a synergetic metacognitively developed approach. Unpublished study. Neumann, 2007, A new labwork course for physics students: Devices, methods, and research projects, European Journal of Physics, 28, 61, 10.1088/0143-0807/28/3/S06 Ng, 2006, Investigating the integration of everyday phenomena and practical work in physics teaching in Vietnamese high schools, International Education Journal, 7, 36 Park, 2004, Analyzing cognitive and non-cognitive factors involved in the process of physics problem-solving in an everyday context, International Journal of Science Education, 29, 1577, 10.1080/0950069042000230767 Pendrill, 2005, Swings and slides, Physics Education, 40, 427, 10.1088/0031-9120/40/6/003 Perkins, 2006, PhET interactive simulations for teaching and learning physics, The Physics Teacher, 44, 18, 10.1119/1.2150754 Priest, 1992, New light on novice-expert differences in physics problem solving, The British Psychological Society, 83, 389 Prince, 2004, Does active learning work? A review of the research, Journal of Engineering Education, 93, 223, 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x Rayner, A. (2005). Reflections on context based science teaching: A case study of physics students for physiotherapy. Poster presented at the annual UniServe Science Blended Learning Symposium Proceedings, Sydney, Australia. Redish, 2003 Redish, 1998, Student expectations in introductory physics, American Journal of Physics, 66, 212, 10.1119/1.18847 Reigosa, 2007, Scaffolded problem solving in the physics and chemistry laboratory: Difficulties hindering students’ assumption of responsibility, International Journal of Science Education, 29, 307, 10.1080/09500690600702454 Renkl, 1996, Inert knowledge: Analyses and remedies, Educational Psychologist, 31, 115, 10.1207/s15326985ep3102_3 Rennie, 1996, Placing physics problems in real-life context: Students’ reactions and performance, Australian Science Teachers Journal, 42, 55 Rogers, 2007, An inquiry-based course using physics in cartoons and movies, The Physics Teacher, 45, 38, 10.1119/1.2409508 Shaffer, 2005, A research-based approach to improving student understanding of the vector nature of kinematical concepts, American Journal of Physics, 73, 921, 10.1119/1.2000976 Shiu-sing, T. (2005). Some reflections on the design of contextual learning and teaching materials. http://resources.emb.gov.hk/cphysics/. Retrieved November 4, 2005 from Contextual Physics in Ocean Park. Taasoobshirazi, 2006, Enhancement of inquiry and achievement in an astronomy multimedia learning environment, Journal of Science Education and Technology, 15, 383, 10.1007/s10956-006-9028-0 Taconis, 2001, Teaching science problem solving: An overview of experimental work, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38, 442, 10.1002/tea.1013 Taylor, 2005, Rollercoasters in the classroom, Physics Education, 40, 512, 10.1088/0031-9120/40/6/F09 Turner, 2005, Physics fair in the classroom: Relative motion with toy cars, Physics Education, 40, 513, 10.1088/0031-9120/40/6/F10 Viennot, 1979, Spontaneous reasoning in elementary dynamics, Science Education, 1, 205 Volkmann, 2004, Learning to teach physics through inquiry: The lived experience of a graduate teaching assistant, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41, 584, 10.1002/tea.20017 Waltner, 2007, Physics in context—A means to encourage student interest in physics, Physics Education, 42, 502, 10.1088/0031-9120/42/5/010 Watts, 1983, Some alternative views of energy, Physics Education, 18, 213, 10.1088/0031-9120/18/5/307 Whitelegg, 2001, Beyond the laboratory: Learning physics using real-life contexts, 337 Whitelegg, 1999, Real-life contexts for learning physics: Meanings, issues, and practice, Physics Education, 34, 68, 10.1088/0031-9120/34/2/014 Wierstra, 1994, Student perception and appraisal of the learning environment: Core concepts in the evaluation of the PLON physics curriculum, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 20, 437, 10.1016/0191-491X(94)00036-G Wilkinson, 1997, The contextual approach to teaching physics, Australian Science Teachers Journal, 45, 43 Wilkinson, 1999, Teachers’ perceptions of the contextual approach to teaching VCE physics, Australian Science Teachers Journal, 45, 58 Yam, H. (2005). What is contextual learning and teaching in physics? http://resources.emb.gov.hk/cphysics. Retrieved November 4, 2005 from Contextual Physics in Ocean Park.