Discovery Learning Approach

Imagine a classroom in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, and then a classroom in some
village in the outskirts of Karachi. Any difference? Yes, the physical environments will be
different in the two but, the academic atmosphere will most probably be the same:
disengaged and bored students trying to appear awake as the teacher drones through a lesson
on Friction - Static and fluid. You also know some written work will follow that the teacher
will mark to accurately measure their learning to the precision of a quarter mark.

And now imagine this: students carrying out experiments on different surfaces and different
angles of inclination with objects of different textures and recording their observations to
figure out what can they conclude based on their findings.

Here the students are actively involved, curious and engaged - a dream every teacher hopes to
come true. On the other hand, the traditional classrooms, we earlier imagined, rely on giving
direct instructions, learning facts, and applying them to imaginary situations, some of which
they cannot relate. 

Which lesson will have a lasting impression?

A student-centred teaching method is more effective as it equips the students with skills they
need in adulthood. John Dewey wrote about student-centred learning in his book The Child
and The Curriculum. He stressed that children need a chance to explore, experience and
connect the information to understand and internalise abstract concepts. In his opinion, there
shouldn't be a need to make the curriculum interesting for the students but should instead
already be of interest to students to avoid apathy. 

One of the versions of student-centred learning is the Discovery Learning Approach, others
being inquiry learning, problem-based and project-based learning, discovery learning, case-
based teaching, and just-in-time teaching.

Discovery learning was introduced in 1961 by American psychologist Jerome Bruner who
believed that learning should be by doing. According to Bruner, “Practice in discovering for
oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily
viable in problem solving.”

The development of this approach was also supported by other learning theorists such as Jean
Piaget and Seymour Papert. Its ideas are also similar to those developed by the writer John
Dewey (as mentioned above), who lived much earlier and was one of the educational
reformers and the fathers of functional psychology.

Discovery-based learning is characterized by minimized participation of the teacher in the

learning process. The idea is that the student is not given the answer but rather the means to
reach it. It is a method that allows the learners to interact with the environment, explore and
perform experiments. Discovery learning is also sometimes referred to as problem-based
learning or experiential learning.

I. How it Works

Traditional instruction tends to favour activities with a known outcome. Such

lessons/activities provide students with recipe-like instructions and are used to verify a result
that is already known. These activities, often called verification labs, exemplify deductive
thinking, as students apply a known principle to verify the assertion. Conversely, discovery
learning classrooms favour exploratory labs, or those with a result that is unknown to the
students. Students then use inductive thinking to construct, or “derive a general principle”
(Domin, 1999 p.1) based on their experience. (Domin, 1999)

Discovery learning problems can be incorporated into all types of lessons. They fit
beautifully into the exploration phase of the learning cycle approach to teaching (Brown and
Abell, 2007). Thus, they work best when they are assigned before any lectures or readings on
the topic. Because problems based on discovery learning are time-consuming and foster deep
learning, they are best used to teach course material that is especially important, conceptually
difficult, or counterintuitive.

In order to succeed, a guided-discovery problem must be adequately scaffolded (Hogan and

Pressley, 1997; Hmelo-Silver and others, 2007) so that students remain within their "zone of
proximal development," the zone between what they can do on their own and what they can't
do, even with help (Vygotsky, 1978).

In today’s world, new technologies help in setting up lessons based on discovery. In instances
where real life exploration is not possible ‘virtual environments’ help students to explore, for
example ancient sites such as Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Egypt, or the palace of
Versailles during the French Revolution. Google Earth can be used effectively in Geography
lessons to view different types of terrains and look at the local examples in 3D. Simulation
programs can be used for frog dissections in the biology class (Operation Frog) or for
studying the development of communities (Sim City). With these simulations students can
still be challenged by being asked to change parameters, study the results of those changes,
evaluate, assess, process, and make other changes on their path to building knowledge and
gaining understanding. To make an effective lesson based on Discovery-learning approach
we need to give considerable thought to creating the lesson and facilitating the process.

II. How to Use it to Enhance Learning

There appear to be three key elements the teacher can introduce to facilitate discovery-based
learning, in addition to teaching students how to collaborate: Creating the lesson (developing
a good question), scaffolding the inquiry process, and taking on a coaching role.
Creating the lesson:

Gerver and Sgroi (2003) describe eight critical steps necessary in developing successful
guided-discovery problems. These steps are:

1. Selecting the content: Choose content that is new but derivable using skills and
knowledge that the students already possess.

2. Stating the aim: Clearly state the objectives of the lesson without spoiling the "Aha!"
component.

3. Identifying the prerequisites: Identify the knowledge and skills that students will need
in order to successfully complete the problem. Then test to make sure the students have
them. In classes before the lesson students learn and repeatedly practice these skills.
Testing of these skills is accomplished through student presentations and whole-class
discussions. Note that prerequisite skills need not be highly developed; they can still be
elementary, in which case the guided-discovery problem serves a dual role as both a way
to learn new concepts and an opportunity to practice and improve previously acquired
skills.

4. Setting up a graphic organizer: As you design the lesson, it is very helpful to make a
schematic outline that reveals the flow and logic of the lesson. Organizing your thoughts
in this way helps you design the lesson in a logical sequence. Structure the activity so that
students build an understanding of each underlying concept individually before putting all
of the concepts together into a comprehensive model. Include one or more hands-on
activities. Design the lesson so that the students must confront common misconceptions
as they work. For example, while exploring an activity on seasons, students are
confronted with the fact that Earth is closest to the sun in January, directly contradicting
the common misconception that seasonal temperature differences are caused by Earth's
distance to the sun.

5. Writing the lesson: At the beginning of the lesson, trigger students' curiosity by making
the problem puzzle-like, a mystery to be solved. A real-life scenario can also heighten
engagement by showing students the relevance of the material to be learned.

Make the lesson challenging, but not frustrating or anxiety-provoking. Each step should
be small enough to feel doable to the student. When incorporating hands-on activities,
keep procedures simple and provide clear instructions; the focus should be on
understanding what happens, not on doing the experiment "right." Keep the students
engaged by minimising ‘busy work’, such as repetitive calculations.

The core of a discovery problem is the leading questions that the students answer along
the way. Here is where proper scaffolding is crucial. When well-written, these questions
trigger the "Aha!" moments that make guided-discovery problems so exciting and
effective. Writing these questions is a delicate balancing act of providing just enough
help. If we give too little help, the students feel overwhelmed and give up in frustration. If
we give too much help, we rob the students of the thrill of discovery. The students should
"gradually see the concepts unfurl" (Gerver and Sgroi, 2003, p. 9). As appropriate, have
students complete partial diagrams or tables. Multiple-choice questions can be an
effective way to restrict the options available to the students and thus focus their thinking.
Frequently ask students to justify their answers, revealing their reasoning.

6. Using a naive proof-reader: Before using a brand-new discovery problem on your

students, have a colleague or student work through the activity and uncover any pitfalls
such as unclear directions, missing steps, hidden assumptions, or errors.

7. Writing a follow-up activity to check for accountability: A discovery learning based

lesson should be an essential part of the course curriculum, not a fun but irrelevant
tangent. Students will not take such lessons seriously unless they know they will be held
accountable for the concepts learned. The follow-up activity need not be an exam; it
could be another guided-discovery problem that builds on the first, an essay assigned as
homework, or a presentation to the class.

8. Field testing and revising: Inevitably, your guided-discovery problem will not be
perfect the first time, or even the second, third, or fourth. As soon as possible after the
 lesson, write down what worked, what didn't, and what you would do differently next
time. Jot down any ideas for making the lesson more enjoyable or more profound.

Scaffolding

This scaffolding should be incorporated into:

 the written materials that the students receive,

 the interactions between the instructor and the students, and
 the interactions among the students.

There are a variety of methods for providing the necessary scaffolding, including:

 the 3-step Learning-for-Use design framework consisting of motivation, knowledge

construction, and knowledge organization (Edelson and others, 2006), and
 teacher-student conversations in which the teacher instead of directly answering
student questions, asks the students a series of questions that guide students in the
right direction. These questions may invite students to explain what they already
understand, clarify those explanations, provide the evidence and reasoning underlying
their assertions, or see the holes in their arguments (Hogan and Pressley, 1997).

For a Discovery learning based lesson skilful facilitation in order to prepare the students
is crucial to its success. Before the first guided-discovery problem of the course, be
especially sure to take some class time to prepare the students for the experience.
Students need to know the educational value of everything we ask them to do; they need
to buy into discovery problems. If they don't, disaster can result. Explain to the students
why you are doing, what you are doing. Tell them a little about the research on how
people learn science. Point out the beautiful alignment between this research and
discovery problems. Let them know that this experience gives a learning experience not
comparable to the traditional ways.

Coaching the Students Through the Problem

When assigning guided-discovery problems, it is essential to devote some class time for
students to work on them. If such time is limited, the early phases of the problem can be
assigned as homework. While students are working on the problem in class, skillful
scaffolding by the instructor is essential. When students want help, ask them to explain
their thinking. Be careful not to evaluate their explanations; instead, note what they reveal
about how far the students have gotten in their construction of the concept and exactly
 where they are stuck. Then give them just enough help (by asking leading questions,
providing a piece of information or explaining a concept) to get them unstuck. Once
they're on the right track and making progress again, joyfully affirm that progress and
then move on.

III. How to Use it to Enhance Learning

As stated in the previous section, if meticulously designed, this approach helps students to
internalise concepts and develops learner’s autonomy. A lesson based on this approach are
engaging and provide deeper understanding as opposed to traditional jug and mug approach
where a lot of jargon is retained through repetitive drills and the student cannot make any
real-life use with it. If posed with the question: a bus can carry ten children, and there are
twenty-five children; how many drivers are needed? Students may leave the answer as 2.5
without realising the implications of the fractional part of the answer. This is Mathematics cut
off from real-life. Creating real life situations to help students discover the real-life solutions.
Discovery learning can be applied to any discipline.
1. In English, guided discovery approach is widely used in EFL classes to make the learning
process more student centred. Let’s take an example. If we are teaching the modal verb
phrase: used to, then, in a teacher centred class after setting the context the class will have
the flow shown below:
1. Marker sentences 2. Teacher clarifies meaning
She used to travel a lot
She used to travel in the past
She used to stay in hotels.
She travelled many time
She used to visit famous
sites. She does not travel now

3. Checks Concepts

Did she travel in the past? Yes

Did she travel many times? Yes

Does she travel now? No

Gives the Form:

Subject + used to + base verb + ……
Although, in the phase of concept checking some students’ involvement may be see, the
lesson overall is teacher-centred and carries a high probability of some students dozing off.

In a guided discovery lesson students will be given a Guided discovery worksheet as shown
below:
Example sentences:
 She used to travel a lot
 She used to stay in hotels.
 She used to visit famous places.
A. Circle the correct answer. (Meaning)
1. Did she travel in the past? Yes/No
2. One time or many times? One/Many
3. Does she travel now? Yes/No
B. In the examples given, circle the verbs after used to.
C. Circle the correct answer.
1. Do they end in -s? Yes/No
2. Do they end in -ed? Yes/No
D. Pronunciation.
Listen to your teacher say the sentence is. Underline the parts of the
sentences that are stressed.

This worksheet can be done in pairs or groups. A good guided-discovery task will ensure that
all the questions for meaning can be answered by looking at the example sentences. For form
first the students are asked to focus on the verbs by circling them and after they answer
questions in C, they come to realise that the verbs have been used in their base (stem) form.
The teacher is not required to explain but she/he achieves it by getting the students to notice
something about the language. In the pronunciation part of the clarification, instead of having
the students drill the language, we ask them to listen and notice things about the
pronunciation and to mark.

In the end the worksheet will look like this:

 Example sentences:
She used to travel a lot
She used to stay in hotels.
She used to visit famous places.
Circle the correct answer. (Meaning)
Did she travel in the past? Yes/No
One time or many times? One/Many
Does she travel now? Yes/No
In the examples given, circle the verbs after used to.
Circle the correct answer.
Do they end in -s? Yes/No
Do they end in -ed? Yes/No
Pronunciation.
Listen to your teacher say the sentence is. Underline the parts of the
sentences that are stressed.

2. In Mathematics also discovery approach can be used effectively. It requires more class
time and immaculate planning. Let’s take the concept pf distributive property of
multiplication over addition according to which a (b + c) = (a x b) + (b x c).

a) Teacher starts with asking the students to tell her/him a story that shows the
mathematical operation 12 x 4. A student may say 12 boxes with 4 balls in each.
b) The teacher then asks the students to illustrate this story on a paper in groups. She
goes around the class observing.
c) Teacher draws/shows her own drawing:

d) She asks them to write the multiplication statement for it: 12 x 4

e) The teacher draws a circle around 10 boxes
 f) Teacher asks the students to write the multiplication statement for the circled boxes:
10 x 4
g) … and the remaining boxes: 2 x 4
h) Teacher asks if they see any alternate possibility. The students will start seeing the
other possibility that 12 x 4 can be thought of as 10 x 4 plus 2 x 4 and both
computations will give the same result.
i) Students are then asked to work in groups and come up with at least 4 different
groupings of the 12 boxes. Based on their responses the teacher will decide of they
need to be given some more time to come up with more groupings.

3. In Science, the topic of Friction can be taught using simple experiment with objects easily
available. First the teacher needs to identify the lesson objectives clearly. Then for each
objective, she/he will investigate its real-life example that can be carried out as a simple
experiment by students in groups.

Let’s say the teacher decides that the students will discover the following concepts:

a) There is a force that opposes motion.

b) It increases with the increased roughness of the surface.
c) It decreases when the surface is smooth.
d) Using an inclined plane, friction can be overcome.

First step will be to design a series of simple experiments and an observation chart. For some
experiments the students may be asked to bring a few items (like small toy cars) beforehand.
Their desks can easily be used as the working surface. To change the quality of the surface,
newspapers, towels, glossy paper sheets can be used.

First, in groups, the students will carry out a series of experiments and record their
observations in the worksheet. They will then fill out another sheet of carefully designed
questions to state what they have inferred. Teacher may regroup the students for another
round of discussion on the findings. In the next class students will read the textbook to check
their conclusions. For this part of the lesson to ensure comprehension of the written text the
IMLS model (see) can be used.

IV. The Outcomes of Discovery Learning

Early research demonstrated that directed discovery had positive effects on retention of
information at six weeks after instruction versus that of traditional direct instruction. It is
believed that the outcome of discovery-based learning is the development of inquiring minds
and the potential for life-long learning. Discovery learning promotes student exploration and
collaboration with teachers and peers to solve problems. Children are also able to direct their
own inquiry and be actively involved in the learning process which helps with student
motivation.

Research shows that cognitive demands required for discovery in young children may hinder
learning as they have limited amounts of existing knowledge to integrate additional
information. Bruner also cautioned that such discovery could not be made prior to or without
at least some base of knowledge in the topic. Students who are presented with problems
without foundational knowledge may not have the ability to work though solutions. The
meta-analyses conducted by Alfieri and colleagues reconfirmed such findings.

Mayer (2004) argues that unassisted discovery learning tasks do not help learners discover
problem-solving rules, conservation strategies, or programming concepts. He does
acknowledge, however that while under certain circumstances constructivist-based
approaches may be beneficial, pure discovery learning lacks structure in nature and hence
will not be beneficial for the learner.

Alternatively, direct ‘instruction where working examples, scaffolding techniques, explicit

explanation and feedback are beneficial to learning (Alfieri, 2011). In addition, time spent
practising newly learned concepts improves problem solving skills (Pas and Van Gog, 2006).

There appears to be benefits to both direct instruction and assisted discovery. Perhaps finding
the balance between the two instructional styles will lead to the best learning outcomes for
students.

V. Can People Learn to Teach Themselves with Discovery Learning?

Aristotle said in Aristotle Niconachean Ethics, Book II, p.91 ‘Anything that we have to learn
to do, we learn by the actual doing of it… We become just by doing just acts, temperate by
doing temperate ones, brave by doing brave ones.’

So, yes at an advanced level of understanding, people can learn to teach themselves with
Discovery learning because a question was the spark before any great invention and
theory/law of science.
VI. Risks

As stated previously as well, using discovery learning at an early learning stage may prove
ineffective due to insufficient prior knowledge, in this case heavy scaffolding may be
required to assist the learners.

Secondly, the time that needs to be invested in carrying out learning based on this approach
may pose problems in curriculum coverage. It takes time as it depends on the students how
the lesson unfolds. This problem can be minimised by a well-designed lesson, activities and
resources. Also, the approach can be used selectively.

Another issue is the balance the teacher has to maintain between too little direction and too
much. With too little direction may put a lot of cognitive load on the students and with too
much direction the whole point of this approach will be undermined.

VII. Examples of Good and Bad Use

As mentioned in the previous sections, the planning process is the key to the discovery
learning approach.

A good use is when the lesson has been created properly (see II How to use it to enhance
learning), scaffolded just right and the students have been coached so that they can tackle the
set assignment effectively.

Bad use will be exactly the opposite of what has been said above. If the lesson is
designed/planned poorly and superficially with insufficient scaffolding and no proper
guidance is given to students, then this approach will be ineffective. Also, if the teacher plans
well, provides sufficient scaffolding but fails to guide students and does not give proper
feedback, the lesson will an example of bad use.

VIII. References

1. [Link]
2. Brown, Emily. (2006). Discovery Learning in the Classroom.
3. [Link]
4. The ABCs of How We Learn: 26 Scientifically Proven Approaches, How They Work, and
When to Use Them - by Daniel L. Schwartz (Author), Jessica M. Tsang (Author), Kristen P.
Blair (Author)