Advantages of Discovery Learning

Advantages of Discovery Learning Jump to: Advantages of Discovery Learning Discovery learning was first put into writing by Jerome Bruner in the 1970’s. In part II of his book titled â€Å"The Quest for Clarity†, Bruner discusses his views on â€Å"the Act of Discovery†. Bruner states his belief that to successfully educate, the educator must first assess what is already known. In this essay Bruner summarizes the basic principles of discovery learning, their benefits, its process, and a set of experiments that Bruner used which according to him, proved his theory. This essay will use research that supports Bruner’s theory in an attempt to prove that discovery learning is more effective than direct instruction and explain how educators should teach in result of the research. What is discovery learning? Discovery learning is an approach to learning that can be facilitated by specific teaching methods and guided learning strategies. For this essay the term discovery learning will refer to learning that takes place within in the individual, the teaching and instructional strategies designed by the teacher, and the environment created when these strategies are used. Direct or traditional instruction are strategies used in teacher led classrooms, including lectures, drill and practice, and expository learning. Bicknell, Holmes, and Hoffman (2000) describe the three main attributes of discovery learning as 1) exploring and problem solving to create, integrate, and generalize knowledge, 2) student driven, interest based activities in which student determines the sequence and frequency, and 3) activities to encourage integration of new knowledge into the learner’s existing knowledge base. The first attribute to discovery learning is a very important one. By exploring problems, and coming up with their own solutions, student’s are taking an active role in creating integrating, and generalizing knowledge. Student’s are not passively taking in information , as they would during a lecture, but are coming up with broad applications for skills by taking risks, solving problems, and examining unique, but useful experiences (Bicknell-Holmes & Hoffman, 2000). This attribute of discovery learning dramatically changes the role of students and teachers, which some traditional teachers find hard to accept. The second attribute of discovery learning is that it encourages students to learn at their own pace (Bicknell-Holmes & Hoffman, 2000). This attribute allow students learning to progress freely as the student is ready to learn new material. Students must obtain a high level of motivation and take ownership in their learning for this attribute to be met. The third major attribute of discovery learning is that it is based on the principle of using existing knowledge as a basis to build new knowledge (Bicknell-Holmes & Hoffman, 2000). Students must be encouraged and provided with knowledge they already know to extend this knowledge and build ne w ideas. A good example of this is when students discover how to multiply a three digit number by a three digit number, by using their knowledge of multiplying a two digit number by a two digit number. The student would build on what they know about multiplication to come up with a new way of multiplying three digits by three digits.