Since Bruner's introduction of discovery learning in the 1960s, there has been an ongoing and intensive debate on the value of inductive teaching methods (e.g., problem-solving followed by instruction, such as in problem-based learning and productive failure) compared to deductive teaching methods (instruction followed by problem-solving, such as…

In addition to providing a set of techniques to analyze educational data, I claim that data science as a field can provide broader insights to education research. In particular, I show how the bias-variance tradeoff from machine learning can be formally generalized to be applicable to several prominent educational debates, including debates around…

Game design offers a unique but often misunderstood pedagogical opportunity. The author draws on learning theory, feminist epistemology, and game studies to analyze a novel genre of games capable of realizing this opportunity by mobilizing knowledge through play--praxis games--founded on the concept of situated praxis. Situated praxis encourages…

Students struggle with learning correct documentation style as found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and teachers are often at a loss for how to best instruct students in correct usage of APA style. As such, the first part of this paper discusses the current research on teaching documentation styles as well as…

Reading difficulties are experienced by children either because they fail to decode the words and thus are unable to comprehend the text or simply fail to comprehend the text even if they are able to decode the words and read them out. Failure in word decoding results from a failure in phonological coding of written information, whereas, reading…

Motivated by the question, "What exactly about a mathematical concept should students discover, when they study it via discovery learning?", I present and demonstrate an interpretation of discovery pedagogy that attempts to address its criticism. My approach hinges on decoupling the solution process from its resultant product. Whereas theories of…

Learning theories are essential for effective teaching in that they shed light on different aspects of the learning process. The spectrum of learning theories can be categorized into three main areas: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. "Behaviorism" as a teacher-centered instructional framework for a long time dominated educational…

Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain…

Research evidence has demonstrated that pedagogical techniques variously known as discovery learning, problem-based learning and constructivism are less effective than explicit instruction, especially when applied to the teaching of novice learners. Nonetheless these ineffective techniques have many devotees and re-enter the educational arena…

Statements by proponents of the new'' social studies are examined. A perspective is developed from which there may be choices among goals, methods, curriculum materials, and approaches to value issues in teaching social studies. (SM)

Maintains that humanities instruction should strive to prepare students "to judge, to discriminate, to make relationships and should not attempt to convey "a body of knowledge; a paper presented at annual Conference on English Education (7th, Syracuse, N.Y., March 28, 1969). (Author/RD)

The purpose of this paper is to open lines of thinking about discovery learning not tried before. This effort is a strident attempt to establish new insights and outlooks that will improve the language, theory, and practices connected with this teaching method. (Author/MK)

An illustration of the cognitive theory of inquiry teaching is presented in this paper in a tutorial dialogue on the nature of lenses. After a description of the goals of the method, the paper discusses the following ten general strategies inquiry teachers use to accomplish the goals: (1) selecting positive and negative exemplars, (2) varying…

Discusses, also, four "modes" of teaching the arts--information, practical, interpretative, and critical; based upon a paper presented at convention of American Educational Theatre Association, August 1969. (SW)