DISCOVERY LEARNING
Overview
Discovery learning is an approach of inquiry-based instruction and is considered based on constructivism. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seymour Papert. Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning, which usually starts with questions, problems or scenarios, rather than present established facts. The process can be facilitated, e.g., through scaffolding.
Origins & Major Contributors
Discovery learning was developed in response to a perceived failure of more traditional forms of instruction, where students were required simply to memorize fact laden instructional materials. Jerome Bruner initiated it in 1961 when he shed the light on “The act of discovery” (1961). Bruner argued “Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving”. This philosophy later became the discovery learning movement.
Characteristics
· Increase intellectual potency
· Promote extrinsic motives to shift intrinsically
· Learn the working heuristic of discovery
· Aid memory processing
Implication for Instructional Design
For the person to search out and find regularities and relationships in his environment, he/she has to be armed with expectancy that there will be something to find and, once aroused by expectancy, he/she must devise ways of searching and finding. Practicing discovery learning teaches one to form information in a way that one can retrieve information more easily in problem solving.
Bruner proposed that the strategy of leading students to effective cognitive activities is to free students from immediate control of environmental rewards and punishments. Whenever a student is able to approach learning by discovering something, rather than learn about it, there will be a tendency for the learner to carry out his/her learning activities with the autonomy of self-reward, or the reward of discovery itself. He also proposed that to the degree to which competence motives come to control behaviors, extrinsic reinforcement would wane in shaping behaviors.
Burner hypothesized that only through the practice of problem solving and the effort of discovery one can learn the working heuristic of discovery. The more one has practice, the more likely is one to generalize a style of problem solving or inquiry that serves for any kind of task one may encounter.
Human beings are better at recognition, which refers to recalls with maximum prompts, compared to spontaneous recalls without external aids. Organization of information helps decrease the complexity of materials structure and allows more viable retrieval to occur.
Affordance & Challenges (Debate)
The topic of discovery learning has been always. controversial. Some researchers question the efficiency of discovery learning. Tuovinen and Sweller (1999) stated their viewpoint with experiment support that discovery learning-based exploration practice requires more load on working memory, compared with worked-examples practice, and therefore is less beneficial for learners. For learners having no previous familiarity with the learning materials, worked-examples practice is more helpful; for learners with prior knowledge, exploration practice and worked-examples practice make no significant difference to their learning.
Another study, which opposes Bruner’s idea, was presented by Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006). They argued that Bruner overlooked the difference of cognitive architecture between experts and novices. Discovery learning, like other inquiry-based learning demands the learners to search a problem space for problem-relevant information. When working memory is used for searching, it is not available for learning. Moreover, they pointed out some drawbacks of discovery learning. Pure discovery method may cause confusion and frustration of learners and therefore lead to misconceptions. What is worse, unguided learning may cause loss of learning of low-aptitude learners.
Examples
http://www.discoverycenter.net/virtual-tracking-instructions.html
Discovery learning is an approach of inquiry-based instruction and is considered based on constructivism. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seymour Papert. Inquiry-based learning is a form of active learning, which usually starts with questions, problems or scenarios, rather than present established facts. The process can be facilitated, e.g., through scaffolding.
Origins & Major Contributors
Discovery learning was developed in response to a perceived failure of more traditional forms of instruction, where students were required simply to memorize fact laden instructional materials. Jerome Bruner initiated it in 1961 when he shed the light on “The act of discovery” (1961). Bruner argued “Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving”. This philosophy later became the discovery learning movement.
Characteristics
· Increase intellectual potency
· Promote extrinsic motives to shift intrinsically
· Learn the working heuristic of discovery
· Aid memory processing
Implication for Instructional Design
For the person to search out and find regularities and relationships in his environment, he/she has to be armed with expectancy that there will be something to find and, once aroused by expectancy, he/she must devise ways of searching and finding. Practicing discovery learning teaches one to form information in a way that one can retrieve information more easily in problem solving.
Bruner proposed that the strategy of leading students to effective cognitive activities is to free students from immediate control of environmental rewards and punishments. Whenever a student is able to approach learning by discovering something, rather than learn about it, there will be a tendency for the learner to carry out his/her learning activities with the autonomy of self-reward, or the reward of discovery itself. He also proposed that to the degree to which competence motives come to control behaviors, extrinsic reinforcement would wane in shaping behaviors.
Burner hypothesized that only through the practice of problem solving and the effort of discovery one can learn the working heuristic of discovery. The more one has practice, the more likely is one to generalize a style of problem solving or inquiry that serves for any kind of task one may encounter.
Human beings are better at recognition, which refers to recalls with maximum prompts, compared to spontaneous recalls without external aids. Organization of information helps decrease the complexity of materials structure and allows more viable retrieval to occur.
Affordance & Challenges (Debate)
The topic of discovery learning has been always. controversial. Some researchers question the efficiency of discovery learning. Tuovinen and Sweller (1999) stated their viewpoint with experiment support that discovery learning-based exploration practice requires more load on working memory, compared with worked-examples practice, and therefore is less beneficial for learners. For learners having no previous familiarity with the learning materials, worked-examples practice is more helpful; for learners with prior knowledge, exploration practice and worked-examples practice make no significant difference to their learning.
Another study, which opposes Bruner’s idea, was presented by Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006). They argued that Bruner overlooked the difference of cognitive architecture between experts and novices. Discovery learning, like other inquiry-based learning demands the learners to search a problem space for problem-relevant information. When working memory is used for searching, it is not available for learning. Moreover, they pointed out some drawbacks of discovery learning. Pure discovery method may cause confusion and frustration of learners and therefore lead to misconceptions. What is worse, unguided learning may cause loss of learning of low-aptitude learners.
Examples
http://www.discoverycenter.net/virtual-tracking-instructions.html
References
Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31, 21-32. PDF
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. doi: 10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1. PDF
Tuovinen, J. E., & Sweller, J. (1999). A comparison of cognitive load associated with discovery learning and worked examples. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2), 334-341. PDF
Updated 3/11/2014 by Xinyun Peng