Definition
Discovery Learning denotes a general instructional approach that represents the first broad development of constructivist learning for school-based learning environments. Jerome Bruner (1961) derived discovery learning from contemporary studies in cognitive psychology and stimulated the development of more specific instructional methods. The most important defining characteristic of discovery learning is that learners have to generate units and structures of abstract knowledge like concepts and rules by their own inductive reasoning about nonabstracted learning materials (Holland et al. 1986). Only such materials are provided by the learning environment. The learning materials may consist in examples of general concepts, cases for general approaches and procedures (e.g., teaching method, management style),...
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References
Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31, 21–32.
De Jong, T., Beishuizen, J., Hulshof, C., Prins, F., van Rijn, H., van Somereren, M., Veenman, M., & Wilhelm, P. (2005). Determinants of discovery learning in a complex simulation environment. In P. Gärdenfors & P. Johansson (Eds.), Cognition, education, and communication technology (pp. 257–284). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hmelo-Silver, C. E., Duncan, R. G., & Chinn, C. A. (2007). Scaffolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry learning: A response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006). Educational Psychologist, 42, 99–107.
Holland, J. H., Holyoak, K. J., Nisbett, R. E., & Thagard, P. R. (1986). Induction. Processes of inference, learning, and discovery. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Joyce, B., & Weil, M. (2008). Models of teaching (8th revised ed.). Boston: Ally & Bacon.
Neber, H. (2010). Entdeckendes Lernen (Discovery learning). In D. H. Rost (Ed.), Handwörterbuch Pädagogische Psychologie (Dictionary of educational psychology) (pp. 124–132). Weinheim: Beltz.
Neber, H., & Anton, M. A. (2008). Promoting pre-experimental activities in high-school chemistry: Focusing on the role of students’ epistemic questions. International Journal of Science Education, 30, 1801–1821.
Internet Sources
General description and illustration of discovery learning; live from classroom. Discovery Learning Center. Retrieved from, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcuyHnVRJcE (for use, observe YouTube regulations. Retrieved from, http://www.youtube.com/t/terms).
Example of discovery learning by experimentation (scientific discovery): SimQuest as an authoring system for simulation-based discovery-learning environments. Retrieved from, http://www.simquest.nl/simquest/index.htm (developed by T. De Jong et al., University of Twente, NL).
Example of discovery learning by examples: Concept attainment model of teaching [Powerpoint presentation]. Retrieved from, http://imet.csus.edu/imet3/drbonnie/portfolio/conceptattain/conattainppt.pdf (designed by B. Drumright according to Joyce, & Weil, 2008)
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Neber, H. (2012). Discovery Learning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1307
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