DISCOVERY LEARNING (BRUNER)

Discovery Learning is a method of inquiry-based instruction, discovery learning believes

that it is best for learners to discover facts and relationships for themselves.

CONTENTS

Contributors
Key Concepts
Resources and References

CONTRIBUTORS
 Jerome Bruner (1915 – )

KEY CONCEPTS
Discovery learning is an inquiry-based, constructivist learning theory that takes
place in problem solving situations where the learner draws on his or her own
past experience and existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and
new truths to be learned[1]. Students interact with the world by exploring and
manipulating objects, wrestling with questions and controversies, or performing
experiments.

As a result, students may be more more likely to remember concepts and

knowledge discovered on their own (in contrast to a transmissionist model)[2].
Models that are based upon discovery learning model include: guided discovery,
problem-based learning, simulation-based learning, case-based learning,
incidental learning, among others.
The theory is closely related to work by Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert.
 PROPONENTS OF THIS THEORY BELIEVE THAT
DISCOVERY LEARNING:

 encourages active engagement

 promotes motivation
 promotes autonomy, responsibility, independence
 develops creativity and problem solving skills.
 tailors learning experiences

CRITICS BELIEVE THAT DISCOVERY

LEARNING:

 creates cognitive overload

 may result in potential misconceptions
 makes it difficult for teachers to detect problems and misconceptions

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND

REFERENCES
REFERENCES

1. Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard educational review.

2. Bruner, J. S. (2009). The process of education. Harvard University Press.


ECOCHAINS: A FOOD WEB GAME TO TEACH
CLIMATE CHANGE
Social science research shows that teaching climate change in way that emphasizes
“doom and gloom” and scary facts does not motivate people to engage in the issue, and
often leads to feelings of helplessness, fear, or guilt (CUSP, 2017). Facts alone are often
not enough to get people to learn or care about the issue. […]
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
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY (BANDURA)
Social Learning Theory, theorized by Albert Bandura, posits that people learn from one
another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has often been called a
bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses
attention, memory, and motivation. Contents Contributors Key Concepts Resources and
References Contributors Albert Bandura (1925 – Present) Key Concepts […]
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 DEONTOLOGY – DUTY-BASED ETHICS (KANT)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] One of the most influential ethical frameworks,
deontology is focused on binding rules, obligation and duty (to family, country, church,
etc.), not results or consequences.[1] The term deontology comes from the Greek deon,
“duty,” and logos, “science.” Contents ContributorsKey ConceptsResources and
References Contributors Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804), German philosopher Key
Concepts Deontologists first consider what actions […]
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UTILITARIANISM (CONSEQUENCE-BASED
ETHICS)
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] One of the most influential ethical
frameworks, utilitarianism is focused on consequences and results; the sole basis of
morality is determined by its usefulness or utility. The morally “correct” action is the
one the produces the most good (or the most happiness) and the least amount of
suffering for the most people (pleasure over pain).[1]. A distinction […]
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 ETHICAL THEORIES AND FRAMEWORKS

Ethical theories are important to study in order to establish a strong foundation for
challenging situations or guide decisions — how do we know whether something is right
or wrong? How can we use ethical theories and frameworks to help us determine
appropriate legislation or whether or not a particular technology is designed to be […]
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ANDRAGOGY – ADULT LEARNING THEORY

(KNOWLES)
Summary: Andragogy refers to a theory of adult learning that details some of the ways in
which adults learn differently than children. For example, adults tend to be more self-
directed, internally motivated, and ready to learn. Teachers can draw on concepts of
andragogy to increase the effectiveness of their adult education classes. Originator:
Malcom Shepherd Knowles […]
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 SWOT ANALYSIS TOOL

Summary: SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats. A SWOT analysis is a tool or technique that can be used in business, design
or personal settings to evaluate a project or company and to create constructive goals
and strategies. Originators: George Albert Smith Jr., Kenneth Andrews, Albert S.
Humphrey (1927-2005) […]
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TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING THEORY
(MEZIROW)
Summary: Transformative learning is a theory of adult learning that utilizes disorienting
dilemmas to challenge students’ thinking. Students are then encouraged to use critical
thinking and questioning to consider if their underlying assumptions and beliefs about
the world are accurate. Originator: Jack Mezirow (1923-2014) Keywords: adult
education, higher education, academic development, disorienting dilemmas,
assumptions, beliefs, […]
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 STEREOTYPE THREAT (STEELE, ARONSON)

Summary: Stereotype threat occurs when people are at risk for living up to a negative
stereotype about their group. For example, a woman may fail to reach her career goal of
being a scientist because of how she changes her behavior in response to perceptions
about her own gender. Originators: Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson […]
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 CHAOS THEORY
Summary: Chaos theory is a mathematical theory that can be used to explain complex
systems such as weather, astronomy, politics, and economics. Although many complex
systems appear to behave in a random manner, chaos theory shows that, in reality, there
is an underlying order that is difficult to see. Originators: Henri Poincaré (1854-1912),
Edward Lorenz […]
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 SOCIAL PROOF
Summary: Social proof describes a psychological phenomenon in which people mirror
the actions and opinions of others. In other words, people’s decisions are often impacted
by the preferences and modeling of individuals or groups around them. Keywords:
informational social influence, marketing, group norms, standards of behavior,
testimonials, crowds, social modeling, sales, business, conformity, group conformity,
[…]
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 NETWORK EFFECTS
Summary: Network Effects describes the phenomenon how the value of a good or
service increases as more people start to use that good or service. Originators: Theodore
Vail (1845-1920), Robert Metcalfe (1946-Present) Keywords: network externality,
demand-side economies of scale, marketing, customer base, value, monopoly, social
media, congestion, good, service Certain products only have value if […]
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 PRISONER’S DILEMMA
Summary: The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a hypothetical scenario which illustrates the
difficulty of deciding whether to cooperate or compete with other people. Understanding
the costs and benefits of cooperating and competing is applicable to various fields
including business, economics, and politics. Originators: Merrill Flood (1908-1991,
Melvin Dresher (1911-1992), Albert William Tucker (1905-1995) Keywords: game
theory, […]
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 BACKWARD DESIGN
Summary: Backward Design is a model for designing instructional materials where the
instructor or designer begins the design process with a focus on the desired results (i.e.,
the outcome) of instruction. Originator / Contributors: Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Keywords: Outcomes, Evidence, Experiences, Instruction, Backward Design, Wiggins,
McTighe Backward Design can be summarized as a process or model […]
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 MODEL OF HIERARCHICAL COMPLEXITY

The Model of Hierarchical Complexity, sometimes referred to as the MHC in
educational psychology, is a framework used to explore and organize the patterns of
human development. It is a theory used when working with behavioral development in
particular. The MHC functions to give rank or order to the developmental complexity of
a certain behavior. […]
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 FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
Flipped classrooms are a method of instruction and form of blended learning. This
model gets its name from the way it “flips” the traditional classroom model. Using this
method, students watch videos or listen to lectures at home. When they come to class
meetings, instructors facilitate group work and other activities that would typically be
[…]
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 BACKUP SYSTEMS (REDUNDANCY)

Summary: The concept of backup systems, also known as redundancy, originated in the
field of engineering. Many mechanical systems are created in such a way that if one part
of the system fails, the system as a whole will still be able to function due to the presence
of backup components. Redundancy and backup plans […]
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 LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS

Summary: The Law of Large Numbers is a statistical theory related to the probability of
an event. This theory states that the greater number of times an event is carried out in
real life, the closer the real-life results will compare to the statistical or mathematically
proven results. In research studies, this means that large sample […]
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 SCARCITY
Summary: Scarcity is an economic term that describes the mindset people develop when
they have many needs and not enough resources to meet those needs. When people
operate out of a scarcity mindset, it can greatly impair their decision-making abilities.
Originators: Lionel Robbins (1898-1984), Sendhil Mullainathan (1972 to Present), Eldar
Shafir (1959 to Present) Keywords: […]
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 PARETO PRINCIPLE
Summary: The Pareto Principle describes how in a variety of situations, 80% of a
product or phenomenon’s output often comes from only 20% of the available input. For
example, a business may receive 80% of its income from the sale of only 20% of the
products available in their inventory. Originators: Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), Dr. […]
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 INVERSION
Summary: Inversion is an assessment strategy that looks at problems backwards.
Difficult problems often need to be considered from another angle. Instead of trying to
figure out the correct or optimal answer to a question, inversion considers how to avoid
incorrect or poor answers. Originators: Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (1804-1851), Charlie
Munger (1924-Present) Keywords: […]
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FLIPGRID: VIDEO DISCUSSION TOOL FOR

FOSTERING A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS
A common criticism of educational theory is that it is often separated from practice.
Educational technology tools are a strategic way to bridge the gap and design instruction
centered around targeted learning theories. Flipgrid is a seamless and user-friendly tool
that prides itself on building a student-centered community of learners. The basic
premise of Flipgrid […]
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 PADLET: COLLABORATIVE CANVAS TOOL

Padlet: An Easy to Use Online Collaboration Tool for Multimedia Sharing Padlet is a
very user-friendly canvas or digital bulletin board that allows people to collaborate and
insert anything (images, videos, documents, text) via drag and drop. This tool is very
flexible and can be used creatively in a classroom context in many ways. […]
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EXPLORELEARNING: ACTIVE
EXPERIMENTATION
Science and math concepts are often some of the most challenging for students to
grasp. It is not enough to listen to a teacher talk about concepts and then complete
standard assignments. Rather, a learner must be able to learn from the teacher in
addition to interacting with simulations and experiments. Physical science experiments
[…]
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 FEEDBACK LOOPS
Overview: Feedback loops are cause-and-effect processes within organisms and systems.
Negative feedback loops serve to maintain homeostasis or equilibrium. Positive
feedback loops are used to intensify or change the status of a system. Originators: Karl
Ferdinand Braun (1850-1918), Henri Louis Le Chatelier (1850-1936) Keywords:
homeostasis, feedback, cause-and-effect system, circuit, circle, positive feedback,
negative feedback, closed […]

Reflective Thinking: RT
| What is RT | Characteristics | RT and middle school kids | KaAMS and RT | Links | Bibliography |

What is reflective thinking?

 The description of reflective thinking:

Critical thinking and reflective thinking are often used synonymously. Critical thinking is used
to describe:
"... the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a
desirable outcome...thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind
of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating
likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful
and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. Critical thinking is
sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome." Halpern
(1996).

Reflective thinking, on the other hand, is a part of the critical thinking process referring
specifically to the processes of analyzing and making judgments about what has happened.
Dewey (1933) suggests that reflective thinking is an active, persistent, and careful consideration
of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support that knowledge, and the
further conclusions to which that knowledge leads. Learners are aware of and control their
learning by actively participating in reflective thinking – assessing what they know, what they
need to know, and how they bridge that gap – during learning situations.

In summary, critical thinking involves a wide range of thinking skills leading toward
desirable outcomes and reflective thinkingfocuses on the process of making
judgments about what has happened. However, reflective thinking is most important
in prompting learning during complex problem-solving situations because it provides
students with an opportunity to step back and think about how they actually solve
problems and how a particular set of problem solving strategies is appropriated for
achieving their goal.

Characteristics of environments and activities that prompt and support

reflective thinking:

 Provide enough wait-time for students to reflect when responding

to inquiries.
 Provide emotionally supportive environments in the classroom
encouraging reevaluation of conclusions.
 Prompt reviews of the learning situation, what is known, what is
not yet known, and what has been learned.
 Provide authentic tasks involving ill-structured data to encourage
reflective thinking during learning activities.
 Prompt students' reflection by asking questions that seek reasons
and evidence.
 Provide some explanations to guide students' thought processes
during explorations.
 Provide a less-structured learning environment that prompts
students to explore what they think is important.
  Provide social-learning environments such as those inherent in
peer-group works and small group activities to allow students to
see other points of view.
 Provide reflective journal to write down students' positions, give
reasons to support what they think, show awareness of opposing
positions and the weaknesses of their own positions.

 Links to descriptions of reflective thinking activities in use

with middle school kids:
o Recommendations for prompting reflective thinking in the
classroom:
 http://www.cotf.edu/ete/teacher/reflect.html

o Examples of lesson plans that have been revised to encourage

reflective thinking in students, e.g., prompting to compare what
they know to what they don't know and actively make
modifications to their conceptions:
 http://www.criticalthinking.org/k12/k12class/4-
6/skeleton.nclk
 http://www.criticalthinking.org/k12/k12class/6-9/bugs.nclk

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 Why is reflective thinking important?

Modern society is becoming more complex, information is becoming available and changing
more rapidly prompting users to constantly rethink, switch directions, and change problem-
solving strategies. Thus, it is increasingly important to prompt reflective thinking during learning
to help learners develop strategies to apply new knowledge to the complex situations in their
day-to-day activities. Reflective thinking helps learners develop higher-order thinking skills by
prompting learners to a) relate new knowledge to prior understanding, b) think in both abstract
and conceptual terms, c) apply specific strategies in novel tasks, and d) understand their own
thinking and learning strategies.

 Links to more information on reflective thinking:

o Critical or reflective thinking:

 http://www.mdk12.org/practices/good_instruction/projectbetter/th
inkingskills/ts-17-20.html
 o Reflective thinking:
 http://www.algonquinc.on.ca/edtech/gened/reflecti.html

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Reflective thinking and middle school kids:

 How to prompt reflection in middle school kids:

It is important to prompt reflective thinking in middle school children to support them in their
transition between childhood and adulthood. During this time period adolescents experience
major changes in intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development. They begin to shape
their own thought processes and are at an ideal time to begin developing thinking, learning, and
metacognitive strategies. Therefore, reflective thinking provides middle level students with the
skills to mentally process learning experiences, identify what they learned, modify their
understanding based on new information and experiences, and transfer their learning to other
situations. Scaffolding strategies should be incorporated into the learning environment to help
students develop their ability to reflect on their own learning. For example,

o Teachers should model metacognitive and self-explanation strategies on

specific problems to help students build an integrated understanding of
the process of reflection.
o Study guides or advance organizer should be integrated into classroom materials
to prompt students to reflect on their learning.
o Questioning strategies should be used to prompt reflective thinking, specifically
getting students to respond to why, how, and what specific decisions are made.
o Social learning environments should exist that prompt collaborative work
with peers, teachers, and experts.
o Learning experiences should be designed to include advice from teachers and co-
learners.
o Classroom activities should be relevant to real-world situations and provide
integrated experiences.
o Classroom experiences should involve enjoyable, concrete, and physical
learning activities whenever possible to ensure proper attention to the
unique cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domain development of
middle school students.
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How does KaAMS support reflective thinking?

 KaAMS model of PBL and its relationship to reflective thinking:

When students are faced with a perplexing problem, reflective

thinking helps them to become more aware of their learning
progress, choose appropriate strategies to explore a problem, and
identify the ways to build the knowledge they need to solve the
problem. The KaAMS model of PBL incorporates various
components to prompt students' reflective thinking during the
learning process. The lesson plans:

o Provide teacher questions designed to prompt students to

identify and clarify overall and subordinate problems.
o Provide many opportunities to engage students in
gathering information to look for possible causes and
solutions.
o Provide ideas and activity sheets to help students evaluat
the evidence they gather.
o Provide questions that prompt students to consider
alternatives and implications of their ideas.
o Provide questions and activities that prompt students to
draw conclusions from the evidence they gathered and
pose solutions.
o Provide opportunities for students to choose and
implement the best alternative.
o Encourage students to monitor and reevaluate their result
and findings throughout the entire unit.

 KaAMS incorporates prompts and scaffolding suggestions to

promote reflective thinking by:
 o Structuring lesson plans to support reflective thinking.
o Providing lesson components that prompt inquiry and curiosity.
o Providing resources and hand-on activities to prompt exploration.
o Providing reflective thinking activities that prompt students to think
about what they have done, what they learned, and what they still need
to do.
o Providing reflection activity worksheets for each lesson plan to prompt
students to think about what they know, what they learned, and what
they need to know as they progress through their exploration.
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Links to additional information on critical and reflective thinking:

 Reflective thought, critical thinking (Eric digest)

http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ieo/digests/d143.html
 Reflective thinking, John Dewey and PBL
http://www.imsa.edu/~bernie/dewey.html

A Selected Reflective Thinking Bibliography:

Book:

o Moon, J. A. (1999). Reflection in learning and professional

development: Theory and practice. London: Kogan Page.
o Halpern, D. F. (1996). Thought and knowledge: an introduction to
critical thinking (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Selected Article:

o Lin, X., Hmelo, C., Kinzer, C. K., & Secules, T. J (1999). Designing
technology to support reflection, Educational Technology Research &
Development, pp. 43-62.
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