Having its origins in constructivist theory, the Learning by discovery seeks to promote cognitive development through the elaboration of hypotheses and the resolution of problems through free interpretation, and the subject's own experience.
This type of learning has been used for decades in schools, with the aim of finding a relationship between everyday life and the knowledge that is imparted to students. Was the American psychologist Jerome Bruner who developed this theory in the 1960s, seeking to promote the student to learn by himself.
In order to understand discovery learning, you must first know its theoretical bases.
The subject is endowed with natural potential to discover and understand knowledge, modifying it according to their own belief system.
To understand this concept of discovery learning, we can translate to any learning environment. It is there where a student must compare what he knows with what he is now assimilating.
That is why when we see news and we have already reached a certain level of reasoning, awareness and educational level, we tend to make comparisons between what we know and the information that we are perceiving through the medium. The learning outcome becomes a novel construction of the intrasychic apparatus.
Creating, developing or elaborating something that previously did not exist becomes a novel act, almost extraordinary for those who experience it. This is what happens with discovery learning.
The elaboration of hypotheses to solve or give answers to a problem or situation, becomes an important situation worth remembering.
A good example to convey this point could be that time we solved a problem that had been spinning our heads for some time, and when we solved it we were relieved. Without a doubt, having solved that situation also lifts our spirits, raising our self-esteem.
Imagine a train, learning can only start a satisfactory journey when all the wagons are well connected and have even the engine warmed up..
After having identified a solvable problem. The discovery becomes conscious after the subject finds a solution to the conflict.
Discovery learning develops through a investigation and problem solving process.
According to what has already been stated, after identifying a problem, it is necessary to find a solution to it through the following criteria:
The problem posing and hypothesis testing It is what gives life to the scientific method and this concept of learning. We cannot affirm that we have discovered something, without first having correctly verified our results.
An example could be a family that goes on an excursion without first paying attention to the weather conditions, the probabilities of an accident in the family during the trip could decrease if they have looked at the reports, but there is never a reliability 100% in these cases.
Only the facts, after the trip, will tell what really happened and not what could have happened. For a solution to be classified as a discovery, it must first be self-regulating and productive.
In the hypothesis self-regulation process, It is the subject who performs the most adequate processing of the information and makes the decisions that he considers most appropriate, to face a situation and therefore, check a hypothesis.
The production of errors is usually associated with learning by discovery.
Within the different pedagogical strategies like discovery learning, error has been a well-used variable. This is because exposing oneself to it helps to modify or reestablish erroneous character structures..
It is considered that the intervention of the teacher in the creation of an ideal scheme for the solution of any problem, could limit the students by not deepening in a really meaningful learning.
Errors are necessary to be able to set really clear parameters between what works and what doesn't. Our mind semantically registers meanings and information of interest.
The information that our brain stores is elaborated with a special meaning. That is why, although a concept may have different connotations, we will always know how to differentiate it from the others. It is not a secret that everything that interests us is much easier to learn. When something interests us, it is fun to open the doors of our mind to knowledge.
The degree of discovery is inversely proportional to the degree of determination of the resolution process
"What really matters is not how long it takes to solve the problem, what is really important is to solve it"
As long as someone is interested in learning, their level of autonomy increases, leading to less presence or help from the teacher or professor. This results in a increase in cognitive abilities associated with a specific activity or learning.
Therefore, the identification, understanding or resolution of any problem, unknown or paradigm is proportionally related to our mental relaxation.
When we feel comfortable with what we are discovering, even if it is not a subject that has interested us first-hand, we tend to learn all the details related to the subject. This is due to the physiological conditions that we create.
Through discovery learning, students are encouraged to think for themselves, to formulate hypotheses and to explain them in a systematic way. Furthermore, fstrengthens our cognitive system by the psychic effort to which we expose ourselves.
As if that were not enough, it encourages the student to believe in himself and his ideas, thanks to trial and error. Here, mistakes are not seen as a bad thing, but as one more step towards excellence..
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