Hypothesis discussed is that discovery methods of training improve students' subsequent ability to discover new rules for themselves if, during training, the students succeed in discovering the rules that were the subject of the training. (Author/CB)

Results of two studies using the Esper paradigm to determine development of rule application and discovery are reported. Subjects learned and generalized when rule and structure were provided, but there was little evidence of rule discovery. Manipulations of memory and attention facilitated learning, but only attention facilitated rule discovery.…

Results indicated that discovery subjects took significantly longer than verbal reception subjects in the first-, third-, and sixth-grades to reach the original learning criterion. Verbal reception subjects generally demonstrated performance which was superior to discovery subjects on all measures of retention and transfer. (Author/BJG)

Forty-three preschoolers learned the concept of one-to-one correspondence by matched discovery, expository, or observational learning. The groups did not differ on short-term recall and near transfer, but the discovery group excelled on far transfer and delayed recall. The effect of guided discovery on broader learning outcomes was also discussed.…