The textbook called "Exploring Television" was designed to be used in an inquiry/discovery course on the impact of television. This teacher's guide to the textbook establishes the instruction goals for the course, defines the inductive learning process, and describes the aims of the reformed English curriculum. The guidelines for each…

The Australian Science Education project is producing materials designed for use in grades 7 - 10 of Australian schools. This is the first trial version of a unit expected to take about 20 40-minute periods to complete. Included are a teacher's guide to the unit, four pupil booklets ("Looking at Soils,""Things to do With…

The unit approach to instruction in the kindergarten and primary grades is considered as an example of learning by doing. In guiding a unit, the teacher must have thorough basic plans but must be willing to let the students substitute their ideas for hers. Part of the purpose of unit work is to let children discover for themselves what process is…

This inquiry began with the observation that learning from instruction is radically more efficient for obtaining information than learning by discovery. A series of seven experiments was conducted to determine some of the factors involved in learning from verbal instruction. The perspective adopted was that of communication theory, in which the…

This diary presents the personal experiences and observations of an intern in an open classroom located in an inner-city London school. The school was based on the following principles: 1) All young children learn by self-selected experience; 2) All young children need a wide variety of experience in all expressive areas; 3) Learning should occur…

Presented is a unit designed for curriculum infusion and which relies on the hands-on discovery method as an instructive device. The student is introduced to the theory of a functioning salt water conductivity meter. The student explores the resistance of salt water as salinity increases and he treats the data which he has gathered,…

Using mathematics as an example, the nature of the confusion between "knowledge" and "coming to know" is elucidated. The range of curriculum choices available to structuralists once the distinction is clarified is larger, and teaching a body of knowledge and teaching by discovery are compatible. (Author/MLF)

Describes exploratory activities for a young child seeking to become acquainted with the world in which he lives. (EB)

First of a series showing ways in which the preschool setting can provide exploratory activities for the young child seeking to become acquainted with the world about him. Suggests ways to present the concepts of climate, clean air, personal space, and noise level. (EB)

The algorithms for finding cube roots is approached by slicing a cube. (SD)

Describes principles which achieve good writing assignments in the social studies: (1) define the content and skills teachers want students to learn, (2) devise assignments in which level of difficulty of task fits the level of the goal, (3) let students speculate on the topic, and (4) present the topic so that students know how and what to do.…

Discovering 3 by 3 magic squares, using numbers 1 through 9, is presented as a learning activity on three different levels. (MP)

Reports on a part of a report on primary schools in England. States that science instruction tends to be superficial, and that the teaching and the content require more planning. (GA)

To participate in the increase and dissemination of knowledge about children, the researcher must accept the problem of seeking to become a child again, to re-find discovery and inquiry without their metaphysical underpinnings and conventional opinions. An extended anecdote illustrates one way the author attempted to do this. (MJB)

Modern science programs introduce more than scientific knowledge. They also encourage active student participation in the processes of scientific investigations. However 11 to 13 year olds generally lack the motivation to initiate such investigations. This is partly due to a logical conflict between learning and discovering. What is learned is…