B.Ed ICT

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. “ 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 The problem de Jong and van Joolingen (1998) include the following problems that learners encounter in scientific discovery learning: Generating hypotheses is difficult. For example, learners may not know what a hypothesis should look like. They have difficulty in modifying their hypotheses to afford the data they gather. Or they make inferences based on variables that remain unchanged between two experiments. Designing experiments for deciding on the validity of a hypothesis is also a major challenge. For example, learners have a certain tendency to seek information confirming their hypothesis instead of trying to falsify their hypothesis. Or they design experiments which vary too many variables at once so that no conclusion can be drawn. Self-regulation of the discovery learning process is a key issue which separates successful learners from unsuccessful learners. Successful discoverers tend to follow a plan going through their experiments, where unsuccessful learners use a more random strategy. Guided Discovery, is characterized by convergent thinking. The instructor devises a series of statements or questions that guide the learner, step by logical step, making a series of discoveries that leads to a single predetermined goal. In other words the instructor initiates a stimulus and the learner reacts by engaging in active inquiry thereby discovering the appropriate response. Mosston (1972:117) specifies ten cognitive operations that might take place as the learner engages in active inquiry: recognizing da analysing, synthesizing, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, hypothesizing memorizing, inquiring, inventing, and discovering. By actively doing and consequence discovering facts or concepts, the learner will understand and therefore remember the subject matter. Mosston (1972:122) cautions that "discovery learning cannot take place if t answers are given." He also points out certain drawbacks of this teaching method: it precisely controls and manipulates learning behaviour and could therefore be abused, and is designed for individual rather than group use Guided discovery learning designs can be enhanced with various computational tools. One of these is simulation. According to Reichert's (2005) summary of de Jong and Joolingen (1998) the following scaffolds should be included in the design of computer simulations for discovery learning.