"THERE IS AN INTIMATE and necessary relation between the processes of actual experience and education" (Dewey, 1938)There are many ways to learn and for some of us we learn better by doing.

Discovery learning has various definitions. At one end of the spectrum we find discovery learning in its simplest form. The tools and information needed to solve a problem or learn a concept are provided and the learner "makes sense" of them. Another definition is discovery learning as experimentation with some extrinsic intervention -- clues, coaching, and a framework to help learners get to a reasonable conclusion. At the other end of the continuum is the expository teaching model of discovery learning where the learner "discovers" what the teacher decides he is to discover using a process prescribed by the teacher.

Discovery learning is most noticeable in problem solving situations. The learner calls on their past experience and prior knowledge to discover the new information or skills. It is a personal, internal, constructivist-style learning environment. "Emphasis on discovery in learning has precisely the effect on the learner of leading him to be a constructionist, to organize what he is encountering in a manner not only designed to discover regularity and relatedness, but also to avoid the kind of information drift that fails to keep account of the uses to which information might have to be put." (Bruner, 1962).

• In the development of instructional systems that cause all students to think and work more creatively and to have a greater role in their own learning
• To encourage students to develop problem-solving strategies for confronting the unknown or unfamiliar.
• To increase the use and effectiveness of discovery learning by promoting the development of discovery learning courses, modules, laboratories and technology.

D. "Skip" Bardin
Graduate Student
SDSU Educational Technology