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INT
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 J
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SCI
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EDUC
., 29
OCTOBER 
2004,
VOL 
. 26,
NO
. 13, 1577–1595
International Journal of Science Education
ISSN 0950–0693 print/ISSN 1464–5289 online ©2004 Taylor & Francis Ltdhttp://www.tandf.co.uk/journalsDOI: 10.1080/0950069042000230767
Analysing cognitive or non-cognitive factors involved inthe process of physics problem-solving in an everydaycontext
 Jongwon Park; e-mail: jwpark94@chonnam.ac.kr; and Limook Lee, Department of Physics Education, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500–757, Korea
TaylorandFrancis LtdTSED100760.sgm10.1080/0950069042000230767InternationalJournalofScienceEducationResearchReport2004Taylor&Francis Ltd00000000002004JongwonPark Dept.ofPhysics EducationChonnamNationalUniversityGwangjuKOREA 500–757jwpark94@chonnam.ac.kr
Recently, the importance of an everyday context in physics learning, teaching, and problem-solving has beenemphasized. However, do students or physics educators really want to learn or teach physics problem-solving inan everyday context? Are there not any obstructive factors to be considered in solving the everyday contextphysics problems? To obtain the answer to these questions, 93 high school students, 36 physics teachers, andnine university physics educators participated in this study. Using two types of physics problems—everydaycontextual problems (E-problems) and decontextualized problems (D-problems)—it was found that eventhough there was no difference in the actual performance between E-problems and D-problems, subjectspredicted that E-problems were more difficult to solve. Subjects preferred E-problems on a school physics testbecause they thought E-problems were better problems. Based on the observations of students’ problem-solvingprocesses and interviews with them, six factors were identified that could impede the successful solution of E-problems. We also found that many physics teachers agreed that students should be able to cope with thosefactors; however, teachers’ perceptions regarding the need for teaching those factors were low. Therefore, wesuggested teacher reform through in-service training courses to enhance skills for teaching problem-solving inan everyday context.
Introduction
Nowadays, everyday context as well as physics content and inquiry processes isbeing emphasized in physics teaching, learning, and problem-solving (Keeves andAikenhead 1995). Wilkinson (1999b) introduced and reviewed various context-based physics courses including the Dutch PLON project, the Large ContextProblem approach in Canada, the applications-led approach in Scotland (UK),Event Centered Learning in Brazil and the UK, the Supported Learning in PhysicsProject in the UK, and the Victorian Certificate of Education physics course inAustralia.Through previous literature, various positive effects of everyday context onscience education could be found (for example, Schwartz 1999). Ramsden (1997),using the Salters’ Science course developed for enhancing students’ appreciation of how science contributes to their lives and for helping them to acquire a betterunderstanding of the environment, observes that a context-based approach makesthe students interested in what they are studying. Lubben et al. (1996) observe thatcontextualized activities, which link science to students’ everyday lives and helpstudents to select and apply their scientific knowledge to solve everyday problems,
 
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improve students’ conceptual understanding as well as their motivation and interest.Harrison and Treagust (1993) showed that the use of analogy, which was familiarto students’ everyday experiences, could help in the conceptual understanding of therefraction of light. Literature regarding improvements in conceptual understandingthrough context-based courses can be also found in other research (for example,Baker and Miller 1999). Whitelegg and Parry (1999) and Wilkinson (1999a) citedO’Keefe’s report that there was an increase in the number of students enrolling inphysics courses in Australia by using newly designed courses introducing real-lifecontexts to the students before the core physics content.In Korea, also, the importance of context in learning physics is described in theseventh National Curriculum (Ministry of Education and Human ResourcesDevelopment [MEHRD] 1997): ‘Physics should be learned in everyday contextsthat can arouse students’ interest and curiosity, for instance, in the context of sports,transportation, amusement parks, music, household electric appliances,communication, medical treatment …’ (MEHRD 1997: 347).In fact, it has been shown that Korean students prefer everyday contexts inlearning physics. For instance, Choi and Song (1996) examined the degree of Korean students’ preferences with regard to different contexts in learning science,and ranked the order of the preferred contexts as follows: (1) everyday life, (2) livingthings, (3) sports, (4) military weapons, (5) laboratory, and (6) natural phenomena.However, even though there are numerous studies showing students’preferences for everyday contexts when they learn science or physics (for exampleDlamini et al. 1996), there are few examining students’ preferences for everydaycontexts in solving physics problems. Everyday context is a major part of theproblem-solving activity. So, in the Assessment Performance Unit science’sassessment framework, context is recognized as one of three dimensions: scientificconcepts; scientific processes; and contexts consisting of science lessons,non-science lessons and everyday or out-of-school situations (Archenhold et al.1988: 2–3).Therefore, this study originates with the following questions: Do students alsowant to solve physics problems in an everyday context? Do they prefer the everydaycontextual problems to the de-contextualized ones as a physics performance test inschool? Do they think everyday contextual physics problems are better problemsthan de-contextualized ones?It is worth asking high school physics teachers and university physics educatorsthese questions, and comparing their responses with those of students. Universityphysics educators usually contribute to creating training courses for future physicsteachers, serve as instructors in in-service training courses, participate in developingphysics curriculum, write physics textbooks, and serve as members of the universityentrance examination board. Therefore, university physics educators’ perceptions of everyday contexts in physics problem-solving may influence physics teachers’perceptions and the methods for teaching physics problem-solving in high schools.If physics teachers prefer teaching and assessing physics in purely scientific contexts,even though students prefer learning and solving physics in an everyday context,then this discrepancy may have a major impact on physics education. Therefore, acorrelation in the views of university educators, teachers, and students is consideredimportant.Wilkinson (1999a) investigated teachers’ perceptions of teaching physicsthrough everyday contexts and found that 52% of physics teachers believe that the
 
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1579use of contexts has improved students understanding of physics, but 25% think thatcontexts do not help students understand. However, there is little investigation intouniversity physics educators’ or high school teachers’ perceptions on physics prob-lem-solving through the use of everyday contexts, and/or a comparison of theirperceptions with those of students.Our second concern is to compare students’ performances in problem-solvingthrough everyday context with that of pure scientific context. This is because, eventhough students prefer everyday context problems, this may not guarantee highachievement levels in problem-solving in an everyday context. Also, previous studiesshow that the effect of everyday contexts on problem-solving is not consistent.Some studies show that everyday contexts that are familiar to the students helptheir problem-solving. Rennie and Parker (1996) used two sets (real-life problemsand abstract ones) of matched physics problems, and observed that seven out of eight students performed better with real-life problems when compared withabstract ones. In the interview, students said that everyday context problems wereeasier to visualize or figure out what was happening and could create interest.Similar research into context effect, where task familiarity has a positive influence onthe performance of a task, can also be found in the literature of cognitive science (forexample, Johnson-Laird et al. 1972).However, when scientific concept application or higher thinking skills areneeded to solve a problem, the aforementioned positive effects of everyday contextson problem-solving are not so salient. According to Song and Black (1992), studentsshowed better performances with everyday context problems when scientificconcepts applications were not required to solve problems. However, studentsshowed no difference between everyday or scientific contexts in problems requiringscientific concept application. Saunders and Jesunathadas (1988), investigatingwhether the familiarity of task content affects problems-solving requiringproportional reasoning, observed that there was a similar interaction effect betweenthe familiarity of content with the levels of difficulty in proportional reasoningrequired for a problem.It was also observed that the effects of everyday contexts differ according tothe different task contents or scientific inquiry skills (for example, Toh andWoolnough 1994). Gomez et al. (1995), using chemistry problems for theconservation of matter, observed that the pure scientific problems concerningchemical reactions were easier for students. On the other hand, problemsconcerning the physical changes were easier to solve in an everyday context. Songand Black (1991), using the Assessment Performance Unit categorization of thescientific process skills, observed that students showed higher levels of achieve-ment in problems requiring interpretation skills in an everyday context, whereaswith problems requiring application skills their performances were better in ascientific context.The deflecting effects of everyday contexts on problem-solving can be found inthe literature. When Dreyfus and Jungwirth (1980) let pupils find out logicalfallacies involved in the problems, they found that the performance of ninth-gradepupils, whose IQ was lower than that of normal pupils, was significantly worse ineveryday context problems.Accordingly, it cannot be said that the effects of everyday contexts on problem-solving are consistent. Therefore, the second aim of this study was to re-examinewhether students solve everyday context physics problems well when compared with
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