Science and technology are no doubt important features in today's society. As a consequence, citizens that are more rationally informed and having better science knowledge will consequently have an optimised control on their everyday decisions. Nevertheless, in Portugal, as in many others countries, student's performances in science, including physics, are weak. The results of international studies confirm it (TIMSS, 1998; OECD/PISA, 2004). Unfortunately, physics is a scientific area that is frequently misunderstood. How many times have physics students been faced with doubts and questions about the meaning and usefulness of what they are learning? Students mention that physics is too abstract, boring, not useful, not related with the natural phenomena and new technologies and too much disconnected from students daily life. Unfortunately, secondary physics teachers do not emphasize concepts, do not solve problems, rarely put students to do experimental work, do not value the relations with the students' daily life and consequently, do not promote critical thinking and transference learning skills. Therefore, we cannot be surprised if students dislike physics and run away from studying it. It urges to change this situation. Physics teaching should be more centred in problem solving. Therefore, one aspect that it can not be neglected is the matter of the context as "thinking is intricately interwoven with the context of the problem to be solved" (Rogoff, 1999, p.2). So, the easiness solving a problem can depend on the context in which the problem is presented to students and "on the analysis of the contexts and problems involved" (Watts, 1991, p.75) performed by the students.An exploratory study was outlined to find out how teachers' practices can help students on the analysis of the contexts and problems involved in order to facilitate the use of transference learning skills. The study was developed at the University of Lisbon in a context of a physics teacher education module with 23 undergraduate students intended to be physics and chemistry teachers. A set of activities were implemented. Some of these activities were developed as promoters of critical thinking skills as these skills can be a facilitator of transference learning. They were also intended to be appealing, innovative, easily implemented and related to simple but global concepts dealing with the everyday experience of all human beings and therefore, connecting science to the world around us.Some students performed first closed and structured activities related with an open and CTSA problem that they would perform later on. Other students performed the same activities in a reverse sequence.The students worked in group. The interactions between students when working were audio-taped and observational notes were taken by an external observer.The data reveal that students use more frequently transference learning skills when they perform first the close and structured activities. That sequence seems to help them to better analyse the contexts and problems involved. Some implications for science teaching and science education can be drawn. OECD (2004). Learning for tomorrow's world: First results from PISA 2003. http://www.pisa.oecd.org.Rogoff, B. (1999). Introduction: Thinking and learning in social context. In B. Rogoff & J. Lave (Eds.), Everyday Cognition: Development in Social Context (pp.1-8). New York, NY: Harvard College.TIMSS (1998). Highlights from the final year of secondary school. TIMSS News. http://wwwcsteep.bc.edu/timss.Watts, M. (1991). The Science of problem-solving: a practical guide for science teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.