Definition
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Discovery learning emphasises what Bruner (1960, 1966) calls a hypothetical
mode of teaching/learning as opposed to a more didactic mode. Discovery
learning encourages students to ask questions and formulate their
own tentative answers, and to deduce general principles from practical
examples or experience.
Mastery of the fundamental ideas of a
field involves not only the grasping of general principles, but
also the development of an attitude toward learning and inquiry,
toward guessing and hunches, toward the possibility of solving problems
on one's own ... For if we do nothing else we should somehow give
to children (students) a respect for their own powers of
thinking, for their power to generate good questions, to come up
with interesting informed guesses ... to make ... study more rational,
more amenable to the use of mind in the large rather than memorizing.
(Bruner, 1960, p.20; 1966, p. 96)
Bruner, J.S. (1960) The Process of Education,
Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.
Bruner, J.S. (1966) Toward a Theory of Instruction,
Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass. (Quoted in Entwistle,
N. (1988) Styles of Learning and Teaching, An Integrated Outline
of Educational Psychology, London: David Fulton Publs., p. 228).
The ... discovery learning mode requires
that the student participates in making many of the decisions about
what, how, and when something is to be learned and even plays a
major role in making such decisions. Instead of being 'told' the
content by the teacher, it is expected that the student will have
to explore examples and from them 'discover' the principles or concepts
which are to be learned. Many contend that the discovery learning
versus expository debate continues a timeless debate as to how much
a teacher should help a student and how much the student shuld help
himself."
(Snelbecker, 1974, p. 425)
Snelbecker, G.E. (1974) Learning Theory, Instructional
Theory, and Psychoeducational Design, McGraw Hill: New York. ( quoted
in Entwistle, N. (1988) Styles of Learning and Teaching, An Integrated
Outline of Educational Psychology, London: David Fulton Publs.,
p. 228).
Learning situation in which the principal
content of what is to be learned is not given but must be independently
discovered by the learner
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