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. Jerome Bruner is often credited with originating discovery learning in the 1960s, but his ideas are very similar to those of earlier writers such as John Dewey. Bruner argues that "Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving". This philosophy later became the discovery learning movement of the 1960s. The mantra of this philosophical movement suggests that people should "learn by doing". 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 learners interact with their environment by exploring and manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and controversies, or performing experiments, while drawing on their own experience and prior knowledge. Discovery-based learning is typically characterized by having minimal teacher guidance, fewer teacher explanations, solving problems with multiple solutions, use of hand-on materials, minimal repetition and memorization.