Discovery learning

Discovery learning is a technique of inquiry-based learning and is considered a constructivist based approach to education. It is also referred to as problem-based learning, experiential learning and 21st century learning. It is supported by the work of learning theorists and psychologists Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Seymour Papert.

The label of discovery learning can cover a variety of instructional techniques. According to a meta-analytic review conducted by Alfieri, Brooks, Aldrich, and Tenenbaum (2011), a discovery learning task can range from implicit pattern detection, to the elicitation of explanations and working through manuals to conducting simulations. Discovery learning can occur whenever the student is not provided with an exact answer but rather the materials in order to find the answer themselves.

Discovery learning takes place in problem solving situations where the learner draws on his own experience and prior knowledge and is a method of instruction through which students interact with their environment by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and controversies, or performing experiments

Advantages and Disadvantages

The Discovery Learning method has obviously had some type of impact on the educational system to have sustained itself over decades.  Many educators still find the Discovery Learning technique important for student development and retention of knowledge.  This section consists of the advantages and disadvantages that have been associated with this method in the past and in the present.  This list has been complied from several different sources and does not include all of the advantages/disadvantages to the discovery learning method or the arguments of refutation for some of these opinions listed.

Advantages:

            •           Discovery learning supports an active engagement of the learner in the learning process, while you are participating, you are paying more attention

            •           Discovery learning fosters curiosity

            •           Discovery learning enables the development of life long learning skills

            •           Discovery learning personalizes the learning experience

            •           Discovery learning is highly motivational as it allows individuals the opportunity to experiment and discover something for themselves

            •           Discovery learning builds on learner's prior knowledge and understanding

            •           Discovery learning uses activities that focus your attention on the key ideas or techniques that are being examined

            •           Discovery learning creates active involvement that forces you to construct a response and this results in processing of information deeper than mere memorization

            •           Discovery learning provides the student with an opportunity to get early feedback on their understanding

            •           Discovery learning results in "episodic memory," a deeper type of memory that allows you to connect information to events which creates stimuli for remembering the information

            •           Discovery learning can be motivating, it incorporates the individuals pleasure of successfully solving problems and recalling information

Disadvantages:

            •           Discovery learning has the potential to confuse learner's if no initial framework is available

            •           Discovery learning has limitations in practice when schools try to make it the main way students learn academic lessons

            •           Discovery learning is inefficient, it is too time consuming for all academic activities (for example mathematical operations), there are not enough hours in a school year for students to 'unearth' everything on their own

            •           Discovery learning requires that the teacher be prepared for too many corrections, a lot of things one discovers for themselves turn out to be wrong (process of trial and error)

            •           Discovery learning  can become a vehicle to reject the idea that there are important skills and information that all children should learn

            •           If discovery learning is taken as an overriding education theory it is apt to produce an inadequate education

These lists were compiled with information from William J. Bennett's The Educated Child A Parent's Guide From Preschool Through Eighth Grade , 'Alternative Modes to Delivery:Discovery Learning' and 'Discovery Learning: The Ultimate in Learning Environments.

Advantages and disadvantages of discovery learning

 Shoaib Chouhan  May 02, 2016

Advantages

The discovery learning literature often claims the following advantages:

         Supports active engagement of the learner in the learning process

         Fosters curiosity

         Enables the development of life long learning skills

         Personalizes the learning experience

         Highly motivating as it allows individuals the opportunity to experiment and discover something for themselves

         Builds on learner's prior knowledge and understanding

         Develops a sense of independence and autonomy

         Make them responsible for their own mistakes and results

         Learning as most adults learn on the job and in real life situations

         A reason to record their procedure and discoveries - such as not repeating mistakes, a way to analyze what happened, and a way to record a victorious discovery

         Develops problem solving and creative skills

         Finds new and interesting avenues of information and learning - such as gravy made with too much cornstarch can become a molding medium

These sorts of arguments can be regrouped in two broad categories

         Development of meta cognitive skills (including some higher level cognitive strategies) useful in lifelong learning.

         Motivation

Disadvantages

Most researchers would argue that pure discovery learning as a general and global teaching strategy for beginning and intermediary learners doesn't work. The debate on how much guiding is needed is somewhat open. See Kirschner et al. (2006) for a good overview (or Mayer, 2004; Feldon) and also Merrill's first principles of instruction model that does promote unguided problem-based learning at thefinal stages of an instructional design.

Typical criticisms are:

         (Sometimes huge) cognitive overload, potential to confuse the learner if no initial framework is available, etc.

         Measurable performance (compared to hard-core instructional designs) is worse for most learning situations.

         Creations of misconceptions ("knowing less after instruction")

         Weak students have a tendency to "fly under the radar" (Aleven et al. 2003) and teacher's fail to detect situations needing strong remediation or scaffolding.

         Some studies admit that strong students can benefit from weak treatments and others conclude that there is no difference, but more importantly they also conclude that weak students benefit strongly from strong treatments.

DSchneider thinks that despite very strong arguments (Kirschner et al., 2006) in disfavor of evenguided discovery learning models like problem-based learning, the debate is still open. Most really serious studies concerned high-school science teaching. Now, science is very hard and indeed puts a very heavy load on short-term memory. In addition, in order to solve even moderatly complex problems a person must engage many schemas. If nothing is available in long term memory, the learner is stuck.

As an example, DSchneider (from his own experience) doesn't believe that object-oriented programming could be taught by a discovery approach. Making web pages on the other hand could. Students can incrementally work on their own projet and integrate independent concepts like HTML, CSS, Ergonomics, Style, Color etc. on their own pace. A project-oriented approach to web page making probably also would be less effective than a strategy like direct instruction. On the positive side, students engaged in discovery with some scaffolding and monitoring provided by the teacher will learn to find resources, to read technical texts found on the Internet, to adapt a solution to their skill level (learn something about the economics), to decompose a problem, etc. I.e. they learn some skill that is probably transferrable to si-milar autonmous learning situation (e.g. learning SVG on their own).

REFERENCES

Rachel Adelson (2004) Instruction vs. Exploration in Science Learning Monitor on Psychology APA Online, Vol 35, No 6.

Alfieri, L., Brooks, P. J., Aldrich, N. J., & Tenenbaum, H. R. (2011). Does discovery-based instruction enhance learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(1), 1-18. doi:10.1037/a0021017

Brantlinger, E. (1997). "Using ideology: Cases of non-recognition of the politics of research and practice in special education". Review of Educational Research. 67 (4): 425–459. doi:10.3102/00346543067004425.

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