Context als betadidactisch begrip Context as a betadidactical term

Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen, uitgegeven door het Freudenthal Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht in de periode 1983-2014

Van Genderen, D. Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen 1985 – 3(3), 183-194 Download pdf

In recent proposals for innovations in physics curricula for secondary schools, the use of ‘contexts’ is stressed, but their role in the learning process and in examination syllabi remains somewhat vague. The definition proposed in this article links context closely to rules: any situation in which a certain physical rule is applied becomes a context for that rule. Classroom experiments are an important type of context for learning rules, but physics education would remain rather sterile without ‘practice contexts’: situations encountered in nature, technology and research. These considerations lead to a syllabus scheme with three columns: physical rules/school contexts/practice contexts. This scheme can also be useful in the analysis of text-books and in planning new curriculum materials.