Developing and validating an authentic contextual learning framework: promoting healthy learning through learning by applying

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate an authentic contextual learning framework with six constructs to model the relationships among essential factors of authentic contextual learning. In particular, this framework explores the relationships across six constructs, i.e. learning by applying, healthy learning, collaborative learning, creativity, sustainability, and scalability. A total of 99 learners participated in this study. All learners had to fill out a questionnaire; then, the data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and partial least square analysis. The result shows that the developed framework has a good predictive power for evaluating the effectiveness of a sustainable and scalable authentic contextual learning (SSACL) design. From the results, it was found that learning by applying not only can unlock learners’ imagination and enhance high cognition development thereby helping creativity but also can sustain learning motivation (sustainability). In addition, learning by applying can make learners intend to do more learning tasks in different contexts, which promotes learners’ interests to do more applications in authentic contexts (scalability). Moreover, learning by applying can also give learners a healthy learning experience by moving their body, walking, and breathe fresh air outside, thereby can help their health as well.