Learning by Discovery: Methods and Lesson Types

Learning by Discovery

Discovery is when the instructor provides all the necessary tools for individuals to discover for themselves what they want to learn.

Forms of Discovery

Induction

Induction involves the collection and reorganization of data to reach a new category, concept, or generalization. Two types of lessons use inductive discovery:

• Open Inductive Discovery Lesson: Its primary purpose is to give children experience in a particular search process: the process of categorization or classification. There is no specific category or generalization that the teacher expects the child to discover. The lesson aims at learning how to learn "in the sense of learning to organize data."
• Structured Inductive Discovery Lesson: Its main aim is that children learn a particular concept. The main objective is to acquire the content of the topic to be studied within the framework of the discovery approach (e.g., family groups, workers).

Deductive Discovery

Deductive discovery involves combining or linking general ideas to reach specific statements, as in the construction of a syllogism.

• Simple Deductive Discovery Lesson: This instructional technique involves asking questions that lead students to form logical syllogisms, which can result in the student correcting inaccurate statements made by the teacher.
• Semi-deductive Discovery Lesson: For example, children could be asked to list twenty integers of their choice. They could then seek to divide each number by 2. Finally, they could see how many different remainders are obtained and group them according to the remainder. When comparing class results, they would find two sets of numbers: those with no remainder (even numbers) and those with a remainder of one (odd numbers).
• Hypothetico-Discovery Lesson: This is one in which children use a deductive way of thinking. In general, this will involve making hypotheses about relationships or causes and predicting outcomes. Hypothesis testing or prediction is an essential part of this lesson.

Transductive Discovery

Transductive discovery goes from the specific to the particular. A product of transductive reasoning would be the phrase "the fog comes on little cat steps...". Here, the particular characteristics of the fog are related to the particular characteristics of a cat. For example, "A giraffe is like an ostrich because both have long necks."

• Transductive Discovery Lesson: It is one in which children are encouraged to use transductive thinking. The general aim of the lesson would be to develop skills in search methods. The selection and organization of the "data" or specific materials will be largely controlled by the child.