In this article, I examine contextualized learning and its pedagogical and psychological foundations, namely those related to critical pedagogy and situated learning. Based on studies about cognitive functioning and on empirical research, I focus on the analysis of some of contextualized learning main ideas, such as student experienced based curricula, authentic learning, and discovery methods. According to cognitive theories, such as Cognitive Load Theory, authentic learning does not promote knowledge acquisition and knowledge automation. In the same manner, authentic learning does not reduce the cognitive load imposed by learning tasks. In regard to empirical research, there is evidence that guided methods of instruction are beneficial to learning. However, there is also evidence of the efficacy of enhanced or assisted discovery methods. These results highlight the need for developing further research centered on the relationship between guided and discovery instruction and, in this way, for looking for bridges between different educational theoretical approaches.
Contextualized learning; Learning from problems; Discovery; Explicit instruction