Design And Function Study Of Contextualized Physics Experiments

The role of context in experiments is not limited to providing background material,but it also offers students a problem space that is worth exploring to complete cognitive tasks or operational activities.Therefore,physics experiment designs should consider how to use the problem-driven nature of context to activate students’ subjective initiative and help them improve their ability to deal with unknown situations through independent thinking.However,existing research on contextualized physics experiments often treats context as mere background material without fully exploiting its problem-driven value in experiments.Additionally,research on the functions of contextualized physics experiments has mainly been explored at the theoretical level,leaving significant room for empirical research.Therefore,an in-depth exploration of the design and function study of contextualized physics experiments from both theoretical and practical perspectives is necessary.Theoretical Construction of Contextualized Physics ExperimentsIn this study,it was proposed that contextualized physics experiments are experimental teaching activities that integrate familiar objects,resources,materials,etc.to encapsulate standardized physics experiments within specific contexts.The design aims to motivate and guide students to engage in independent exploration and thinking through problem-driven approaches,thereby cultivating their practical application abilities and transferable innovation capabilities in facing real-world problems.Contextualized physics experiments often possess characteristics such as contextualization of experimental carriers,problem-driven experimental processes,counterintuitive experimental phenomena,and flexible experimental applications.Based on the design principles of contextualized physics experiments,four design paths of contextualized physics experiments and demonstrates the feasibility of contextualized physics experiment design were summarized through specific cases.Development and Optimization of Functional Assessment Tools for Contextualized Physics ExperimentsAfter analyzing the impact of contextualized physics experiments on the development of students’ practical and transferable abilities,the application and transferable innovation portion of the physics discipline ability performance model was selected as the evaluation framework for the development and optimization of functional assessment tools for experimental testing.The process for developing and optimizing the tool included the preparation of pre-and post-test questions,first-round testing,quality inspection based on the Rasch model,project revision and optimization,tool retesting,and formal tool testing.Among these steps,formal tool testing demonstrated excellent performance in Rasch detection: the tool demonstrated good reliability,validity,and discriminability overall,and its unidimensionality indicates a stable internal structure.The data-model fit of each item is also favorable,demonstrating that the developed assessment tool is effective in measuring students’ application and transferable innovation abilities.Empirical Research on the Functional Assessment of Contextualized Physics ExperimentsTwo key classes with similar physics learning abilities were selected from a prominent middle school in Chongqing City and conducted a one-month teaching experiment using a pre-test/post-test control group design.During the teaching preparation phase,four contextualized physics experiments were designed based on evaluation indicators,and supporting teaching materials were developed and improved,along with corresponding experimental teaching aids.Prior to the teaching intervention,the "Physics Discipline Application Practice Ability and Transferable Innovation Ability Test" was used to assess the homogeneity of the subjects and whether there were differences in their initial performance levels.During the teaching intervention,the subjects completed the corresponding supporting teaching materials independently to enable delayed evaluation.After the teaching intervention,the "Physics Discipline Application Practice Ability and Transferable Innovation Ability Test" was used to assess whether there were differences in the subjects’ ability development levels.Finally,based on the difference test results of the pre-and post-tests and the process analysis results of the teaching materials,the following experimental conclusions were drawn:Firstly,contextualized physics experiments did not show a significant promotion effect on the improvement of the "analysis and explanation","inference and prediction",and "synthesis and application" indicators of the application practice abilities of key class students.Secondly,contextualized physics experiments did not show a significant promotion effect on improving the application practice abilities of key class students.Further analysis suggests that this may be due to the good development level of the application practice abilities of the selected subjects before the teaching intervention or the difficulty in improving the application practice abilities of key class students within a relatively short intervention period.Thirdly,contextualized physics experiments have improved the "construction of new models" indicator of the transferable innovation abilities of key class students to some extent,but this improvement may not be significant due to the short experimental duration.Fourthly,contextualized physics experiments have shown a significant promotion effect on improving the transferable innovation abilities of key class students,as indicated by improvements in the "intuitive association" and "transfer and questioning" indicators.This demonstrates that the contextualized physics experiments proposed in this study are helpful in enhancing students’ transferable innovation abilities.