POSSIBLE ANSWER: One example of discovery learning is learning a foreign language by immersion in the culture in which the language is spoken. Students wishing to learn Spanish, for instance, learn different grammatical rules by necessity, as daily life in Spanish-speaking countries forces students to use different tenses. Therefore, learning these tenses is facilitated by immersion.
QUESTION 2: What is the teacher's role in a discovery lesson?
POSSIBLE ANSWER: The teacher's role in discovery learning is scaffolding, providing appropriate clues that help organize student understand and bring students closer to understanding. An alternative approach to comprehending the teacher's role in discovery learning is the operant conditioning principle of shaping. In shaping, desired student outcomes are shaped by rewarding successive approximations of the desired outcome.
QUESTION 3: What strengths and limitations exist with discovery learning?
POSSIBLE ANSWER: Discovery learning helps students learn to solve problems by organizing their thought processes so that appropriation of concepts is possible. Further, discovery learning enhances metacognition by teaching students to focus on their thought processes. Finally, it is useful in the enhancement of efficacy beliefs, as students learn they can achieve cognitively.
How can teachers improve students' problem-solving abilities?
POSSIBLE ANSWER: Teachers can improve problem-solving ability by assigning discovery learning tasks and using strategies like Jigsaw, Learning Together, Group Investigation, and Cooperative Scripting, which encourage students to solve problems actively by investigating assignments cooperatively, reaching solutions, and thinking critically about solutions and revising responses as necessary.
