Context in the Context of Physics and Learning

This paper re-centers the discussion of student learning to focus on context. A theoretically-grounded understanding of context and the relation of context to student learning are developed. This work argues for a contextual constructivist model of student learning, in order to support efforts in creating and analyzing environments that support student learning in physics. INTRODUCTION: To date, the discussion of student learning in physics has been largely student and content centered.[1] The common goal of many of these efforts is the creation of systems of activities which provide the opportunity for conceptual change in students who otherwise are left out by traditional forms of instruction. While researchers go to great lengths to create environments supportive of such activities, these environments, which promote student learning, remain under-theorized. The micro-cultures and contexts instantiated in institutional practice remain implicit in these approaches to student learning. If we are to understand what and how elements of learning environments are productively organized to shape students' understanding, we must develop a definition of these environments (contexts) and theories of how these contexts affect student learning. This paper articulates what is meant by context, and begins to develop a theory of how contexts shape (and are shaped by) student learning. In a simplified summary of physics education research, scholars have moved from instructionist or transmissionist models to constructivist or interactive-engagement models of student learning. I propose moving the conversation further, to a contextual (or cultural) constructivist model, which places context in the middle of the discussion. Context is central to student learning, not as an analytically separate factor, not as the backdrop to student learning, but as an integral part of the learning process. Students (and other educational participants) shape and are shaped by the contexts in which these educational endeavors occur. Inherent in a given context are certain features which promote or inhibit construction of content understanding. From this perspective, conceptual change is mutually constituted by the individual and the context-the central tenet of contextual constructivism. BACKGROUND AND EDUCATIONAL MODELS: The classic " instructionist " or " transmissionist " model for delivery of education idealizes the student as an empty vessel and instruction as the delivery of reified decontextualized knowledge. Redish describes this mode of instruction.[2] The student arrives at an instructional setting as an empty vessel and is " filled-up " with information by the instructor. The student then possesses the information and may call …