Context-Based Learning in Physics

1
Context-Based Learning in Physics
2
New processes for students

• Note These skills may be new to Physics classes
  but they are not necessarily new to students.
• Transference
• Taking skills and knowledge from one context (or
  subject) and using them in another
• This must be explicitly encouraged within Physics
  (e.g. through key concepts) and between subjects
  (e.g. mathematical skills, writing
  bibliographies).
• Report writing skills
• Communicating in a variety of genres (e.g. power
  point, argumentative essay, persuasive essay)

3
New processes for students

• Time and project management
• Creative thinking
• Critical thinking
• About sources of data
• About results and conclusions
• About their own work

4
Characteristics of a good context

• Physics content
• Teacher familiarity
• Student familiarity
• Assessment opportunities
• Availability of resources
• Suitability to school and student population
• Examples
• Good Cars"
• Bad The Bomb

5
Resources

• Own interests
• Staff from other faculties e.g. Music, PE,
  Technology
• Parents/Friends
• Internet
• Magazines
• Text books

6
Designing a Course

• Choose 6 8 contexts
• Identify key concepts for each context
• Check key concept coverage
• Identify suitable assessment tasks
• Put contexts in order considering
• Development of concepts from simple to complex
• Arrangement of assessment items
• External factors e.g. exam blocks, verification
  etc.

7
Developing a Unit Plan

• Choose assessment task(s)
• Identify 3 or 4 contextual foci
• For each focus, identify the key ideas that are
• essential
• possible
• Identify possible learning experiences and match
  these to key ideas
• Arrange key ideas with learning experiences in
  order from simple to complex
• Position assessment task(s). These will be the
  primary learning experiences.

8
Management tips

• Intersperse time spent on assignments with other
  (relevant) learning experiences
• Set challenging projects but provide scaffolding
  and support
• Always start with the context, even if briefly

9
Assessment Tasks

• Extended Response Tasks
• Make the tasks valid.
• Can you imagine anyone performing this task in a
  non-learning situation?
• Could anyone other than you be interested in the
  finished product?
• Design the task so that it requires students to
  make a decision of some sort
• Makes plagiarism more difficult
• Encourages higher order thinking skills
• Provides a focus for holistic assessment
• Attitudes and Values General Objective is a good
  source of ideas

10
Assessment Tasks

• Extended Experimental Investigations
• Investigations should highly structured at first.
• Have students perform their own risk assessments
• This is part of a ST exit standard
• Perform a literature review.
• 2 phases of experimentation.
• Start with a simple recipe-style experiment
• Vary the conditions of this experiment, improve
  on it or perform a more complex experiment with a
  related purpose.
• Introduce more elaborate report structures (e.g.
  abstract, appendix, bibliography etc.)

11
Management of assignments

• Threats
• Plagiarism (esp. from internet)
• Inappropriate levels of assistance from
  family/friends
• Copying rather than collaboration
• Late submission
• Non-submission

12
Management of assignments

• Strategies
• Make tasks specific and novel rather than general
  and generic.
• Use log books
• Set and monitor checkpoints
• Approximately 1 week apart to maintain momentum.
• Use checkpoints to signpost significant steps in
  the research cycle.
• Have both student and teacher keep a record of
  the checkpoints met.

13
Management of assignments

• Strategies
• Collect and keep work (e.g. annotated
  bibliography, draft) before the due date. Treat
  this as the finished product in the case of
  non-submission.
• Drafting
• Allow 1 draft only, to be submitted by a
  particular date
• Expect significant modification between the draft
  and the final copy
• Give at least some of your advice verbally only

14
Management of assignments

• Strategies
• Use Management of Research Task as a limiting
  criterion
• Do not give a top result to an assignment that
  appears from nowhere.
• Have students perform similar, simpler tasks
  under exam conditions.
• Encourage students to acknowledge all the
  assistance that they have received.

15
Holistic marking

• The whole is sometimes greater (or less) than
  the sum of its parts.
• Key questions
• How well has the student fulfilled the purpose of
  this task?
• What are the features of a good response to this
  task? Are a number of these present?

16
Criteria Sheets

• Start with the task
• What are the discriminating features of a good
  product?
• Use the exit standards to define your
  expectations
• Label each criterion for simple reference
• Use similar language but simpler statements
• Each syllabus descriptor can convert to 1 or 2
  assignment criteria
• Use past tense to refer to achievements that have
  been demonstrated, e.g. Trends and patterns in
  the data have been identified.

17
Criteria Sheets

• Develop a comprehensive criteria sheet for each
  assessment type (i.e. EEI, ERT, WT).
• If necessary, cross out criteria that do not
  apply to a particular task (esp. in Year 11).
• Develop more specific sheets for each task as you
  become more familiar with it.
• Use a separate sheet to record information about
  oral presentations.

18
Written Tests

• Marks are not forbidden but must be handled with
  care
• Can be used to assist holistic decision making
• Complexity involves depth and scope.
• Marks are useful in tasks that assess the scope
  of understanding.
• Break tests up into logical sections (e.g. short
  answer, multiple choice) and treat each as a
  complex situation
• Dont rely on the numbers to make the decision
  for you. If the result is close, check the
  students work and make a decision.

19
Action Plan

• Contexts
• Assessment tasks
• Criteria sheets
• Resources