This paper provides an overview on what is context-based learning, and why and how to apply such teaching and learning approach in physics education.

The authors suggest that learning would be inhibited if there is no interaction occur. Such a view of learning was used as a lens to look at a physics class in an Australian suburban high school.

This paper analyzes how the new curriculum should be designed, for example in the implementation of Science, Technology and Society (STS) and the learning of other enquiry skills, etc. The development of science education and the demerits of the current curriculum are discussed. The author suggested how the curriculum should be modernized and how the contents of the curriculum should be revised in order to match the social and individual needs.

The Supported Learning in Physics Project (SLIPP) is a Physics Curriculum Reformation Project that is now on-going in UK. SLIPP emphasizes on using real-life contexts to teach physics concepts. Aims and contents of this project are discussed and an example module of teaching materials is provided.

This article discusses the attitudes of students towards careers in science, and the effects of school science on these attitudes. The discussion is then related to the physics curriculum reformation in UK.

Framework and the revised contents in the new physics curriculum in the Netherlands are briefly discussed.

The author specified the new aims of physics education and the reasons leading to the reformation of the curriculum.

This paper discusses the design of historically based science contexts and stories.

This article reviews the theoretical contents for research into children conceptions in science and identifies future directions for research programs in this field.

This article discusses the applications of psychology and epistemology on the science education.

This paper describes a theoretical framework based on cognitive/developmental research. Cognitive/developmental research can provide rich information about the learning process of students which can form the basis for a systematic theory of instruction.

The results showed that students performed better on items on everyday contexts than on educational contexts, but their performance was fairly low in both contexts.

This paper describes the development and the implementation of a study module for a Computer Based Learning Environment (CBLE) in the domain of Newtonian dynamics. The environment design stimulates the students to learn actively.

A study on sixteen Grade 7-8 African American students participated in an "alternative education" program for 18 weeks. By observing the participant's behavior, the author suggested that the distinction between students' and scientists' reasoning is ambiguous rather than obvious.

This article discusses the large context problem approach based on the educational principles and the nature of scientific thinking. In the appendix, it shows how this contextual approach can be used for the teaching of kinematics.

This paper summarized two research projects (The ACOST research project and The FASSIPES research) and found that there are some major factors affecting students in choosing physics or not. These factors include home background, teacher, extra curriculum activities and career.

This article reports two investigations designed to improve the understanding of thermal processes. In the first study, 37 middle school students, 9 adults, and 8 chemists and physicists were interviewed so as to obtain their understanding and explanations of some real-world phenomena. The results showed the difficulties among the students when they are trying to explain their experience. The second study discusses how to design activities so as to foster knowledge development in the area of elementary thermodynamics.

This study attempts to point out the factors, which might help to discover the vestiges of the naive views of motion in novice students. The research sample included pre- and post-instructional high-school students and undergraduate students.

The author first describes contextual teaching approach from the point of view of the theory of knowledge. He then points out that context is a teaching tool but not a teaching goal. Finally, he elaborates the characteristics of the contexts chosen for contextual teaching approach.