How to Write Good Quality Contextual Science Questions: Criteria and Myths

Abstract

The goal of this study is to set criteria for writing good contextual questions. This is a theoretical research work based on an extensive literature review. Extensive literature comprised of reviewing leading data bases, educational journals, and proceedings. All the collected materials from these resources were read, compiled, analyzed, interpreted, and synthesized. The information gathered from these sources were systematically used as an input to generate criteria for writing good contextual questions. Eventually, 3 main criteria and 11 sub-criteria were generated from these studies. Besides, the difference between contextual and idealized questions was presented comparatively. As a final step, common misunderstandings i.e., myths related to contextual questions were determined and presented in detail. This study can be seen as a how-to-guide to all stake holders of education for writing good contextual questions. Extended Abstract Purpose and Significance: The goal of this study is to set criteria for writing good contextual questions based on relevant literature. Contextual teaching and learning (CTL) is a very prominent approach. CTL approach is interpreted and developed by a wide array of researchers from many different countries with similar perspectives. During the implementation process, practitioners should need to use contextual questions somehow though there are very limited number of studies indicating how to generate good contextual questions. Methods: This is a theoretical research work based on an extensive literature review. Extensive literature comprised of reviewing leading data bases, educational journals and proceedings. All the collected materials from these resources were read, compiled, analyzed, interpreted, and synthesized. The information was gathered from these sources were systematically used as an input for discussions to generate criteria for writing good contextual questions.