Guided Discovery Learning

Guided discovery learning is a constructivist instructional design model that combines principles from discovery learning and sometimes radical constructivism with principles from cognitivist instructional design theory.

• Guided discovery learning comb ines didactic instruction with more student-centered and task-based approaches.

• Key features are • (1) a framework for student learning, • (2) student responsibility for exploring content needed for • understanding,• (3) provision of study guides, and • (4) application to clinical or experimental problems

Students discover knowledge without guidance, developing their own understanding. The role of instruction is merely to provide a suitable environment, which in software might be a microworld or simulation. Discovery learning, or instructionless learning, involves hypothesis formulation and testing (Goodyear et al. 1991, Shrager and Klahr 1986).” (Stephen Bostock), retrieved, 17:17, 15 September 2006 (MEST).

Features

• Direct "just-in-time" access to the domain knowledge seems to have a positive effect on problem solving and on transfer of knowledge.

• Support for hypotheses generation, for example by providing hypothesis construction tools, seems to have positive effects on the performance of learners.

• Support for designing experiments by providing hints and advice seems to positively affect the learners' experimentation abilities (but does not seem to influence the learning outcome).

• Support for making predictions e.g. by providing them a graphic tool to draw a curve that depicts the prediction.

• Support for the regulation the learning process includes various measures: – Model progression, such as step-by-step model

expansion (e. g. expanding the complexity of the model).

– Planning support (e. g. using guiding questions, quests or even assignments).

– Monitoring support (e. g. show what has already be done in the simulation)

– Structuring the discovery process (e. g. providing students with a sequenced structure such as "set-up, do, reflect").

• Guided-discovery problems can be incorporated into lecture, lab, and field courses. They are ideal cooperative learning activities. They also fit beautifully into the exploration phase of the learning cycle approach to teaching (Brown and Abell, 2007 ), and are especially effective when they are assigned before any lectures or readings on the topic. Because guided-discovery problems are time-consuming and foster deep learning, they are best used to teach course material that is especially important, conceptually difficult, or counter-intuitive.

• 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).