Contextualizing instruction and student learning in middle school project-based science classrooms

National science education reform efforts encourage teachers to contextualize instruction by building from students' personal experiences and prior knowledge to promote understanding and develop their capacity to apply science ideas in a variety of real-world settings. However, little information exists regarding the use of this instruction in classrooms, and scant evidence is available to demonstrate a relationship between this instructional method and students' science learning. This study addresses these gaps in the literature by exploring teachers' efforts to contextualize instruction in two urban middle school project-based science classrooms, looking particularly at how teachers and students utilized the contextualizing aspects of the project and its relationship to learning.;The study was guided by three research questions. First, what does contextualizing instruction in middle school project-based science classrooms look like? Second, what are students' uses of contextualizing aspects during instruction? Third, what is the relationship between students' utilization of these aspects and their science learning? To address these questions, several data collection and analysis methods were utilized. These included classroom observations and characterization of students' use of these features in terms of a contextualizing score, stimulated recall interviews with target students regarding ideas and experiences brought forward during instruction, and analysis of final science learning assessments.;Major findings include teachers' successful use of contextualizing features throughout the extended project in urban classrooms, students' engagement with the contextualizing features which brought forward their prior ideas and experiences during instruction, and a significantly large correlation between students' use of contextualizing features during instruction and their performance on science learning assessments. Together, these findings provide initial evidence for contextualizing instruction in science classrooms as a means to build on students' prior knowledge and experiences and facilitate their development and application of concepts in real world settings. The results indicate the importance of contextualizing instruction in science learning environments, and inform methods of utilizing this instruction in classrooms through curriculum design and professional development efforts. Future research should address the limitations of this study including greater numbers of student cases and focus on a variety of classroom and learning settings.