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DISCOVERY LEARNING
Tell me and i forget. Show me and i remember. involve me and i uderstand. ~chinese Proverb
What is it?
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Some general ways discovery learning can be implemented into classrooms are:
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Dissection - students see how their surroundings are built by taking them apart with their own hands.
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Interviews - students learn through first hand knowledge.
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Data interpretation - students use data gathered to produce outcomes for a given problem.
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Experimentation - this allow for students to have a hands on approach.
In order for discovery learning to be successful, the following must occur:
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Active Learning: The lesson will require active participation from the students. This entails students working with and discussing the content first hand rather than solely listening or taking notes.
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Meaningful Learning: As students interact with the new material and engage in problem-solving, they must make connections for the learning to be meaningful and lasting. Discovery learning without solid connections to the new and previously learned knowledge will not be effective.
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Changes in Beliefs and Attitudes: Successful discovery learning places the responsibility of learning with the students - it supports the constructivist theory that understanding can be developed by the student rather than solely received from the teacher.
Advantages
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Encourage students to be critical thinkers
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Allows students to take pride in their work
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Encourages creativity and curiosity
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Discovery learning supports an active engagement of the learner in the learning process, while participating,
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Discovery learning personalizes the learning experience
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Discovery learning is highly motivational as it allows individuals the opportunity to experiment and discover something for themselves
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Discovery learning builds on learner's prior knowledge and understanding
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Discovery learning creates active involvement that forces you to construct a response and this results in processing of information deeper than mere memorization
Disdvantages
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What students discover may not be accurate
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Discovery learning has the potential to confuse learner's if no initial framework is available
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Discovery learning has limitations in practice when schools try to make it the main way students learn academic lessons
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Discovery learning is inefficient, it is too time consuming
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Discovery learning can become a vehicle to reject the idea that there are important skills and information that all children should learn
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If discovery learning is taken as an overriding education theory it is apt to produce an inadequate education
View the PowerPoint below on Discovery Learning.
References
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Svinicki, M. D. (1998). A theoretical foundation for discovery learning. American Journal of Physiology, 275, S4-S7.
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Saab, N., Joolingen, W. R., & Hout‐Wolters, B. H. (2005). Communication in collaborative discovery learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology,75(4), 603-621.