Psychological Controversies in the Teaching of Science and Mathematics

Author(s): LEE S. SHULMAN

Source: The Science Teacher , SEPTEMBER 1968, Vol. 35, No. 6 (SEPTEMBER 1968), pp. 34-
38, 89-90
Published by: National Science Teachers Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24150776

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Science Teacher

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Psychological Controversies
in the Teaching of Science and Mathematics'
LEE S. SHULMAN

Professor of Educational Psychology and Medical Education

Michigan State University, East Lansing

the importance of basic associations or to consign Bruner and Gagné to irre

THE popular
the press
discovery hasofdiscovered
method facts in the service of the eventual vocable extremes. Their published
teaching.
mastering of principles and problem- writings are employed merely to char
It is by now, for example, an annual
ritual for the Education section of solving. acterize two possible positions on the
TIME magazine to sound a peal of Needless to say, there is considerable role of discovery in lear
praise for learning by discovery (e.g.,ambiguity over the use of the term each has expressed eloqu
TIME, December 8, 1967 [7]). discovery. One man's discovery ap- time in the recent past,
TIME's hosannas for discovery proach are by can easily be confused with In this paper I will firs
no means unique, reflecting as they another's
do guided learning curriculum if manner in which Brune
the educational establishment's the unwary observer is not alerted to respectively, describe the
general
tendency to make good things the preferred labels ahead of time. For some particular topic. U
seem
better than they are. Since even thisthereason I have decided to contrast examples as starting p
soundest of methods can be brought the twoto positions by carefully examin- then compare their posi
premature mortality through an ing the work of two men, each of whom spect to instructional
over
dose of unremitting praise, it becomesis considered a leader of one of these structional styles, readine
periodically necessary even for general
advo schools of thought. ing, and transfer of train
cates of discovery, such as I, to temper Professor Jerome S. Bruner of Har- then examine the implica
enthusiasm with considered judgment. vard University is undoubtedly the controversy for the proc
single person most closely identified tion in science and ma
The learning by discovery contro
with the learning-by-discovery position, the conduct of research
versy is a complex issue which can
easily be oversimplified. A recent His book,
vol The Process of Educa- process.
ume has dealt with many aspects of the tion [1], captured the spirit of discov
issue in great detail [8]. The contro ery in the new mathematics and science Instructional Example:
versy seems to center essentially about curricula and communicated it effec- Discovery Learning
the question of how much and what tively to professionals and laymen. His In a number of his papers, Jerome
kind of guidance ought to be provided thinking will be examined as repre- Bruner uses an instructional exampl
to students in the learning situation. sentative of the advocates of discovery from mathematics that derives from hi
Those favoring learning by discovery learning. collaboration with the mathematics ed
advocate the teaching of broad prin Professor Robert M. Gagné of the ucator, Z. P. Dienes [2],
ciples and problem-solving through University of California is a major A class is composed of
minimal teacher guidance and maximal force in the guided learning approach, old children who are the
opportunity for exploration and trial His analysis of The Conditions of some mathematics. In on
and-error on the part of the student. Learning [3] is one of the finest con- structional units, children ar
Those preferring guided learning em temporary statements of the principles troduced to three kinds of
phasize the importance of carefully of guided learning and instruction. of wood or "flats." The firs
sequencing instructional experiences I recognize the potential danger in- are told, is to be called
through maximum guidance and stress herent in any explicit attempt to polar- "unknown square" or "X s
ize the positions of two eminent schol- second flat, which is recta
1 Invited paper to the American Association for ars. My purpose is to clarify the called "1 X" or just X, si
the Advancement of Science, Division Q (Educa
tion), New York City. December 1967. dimensions of a complex problem, not long on one side and 1 l

34 THE SCIENCE TEACHER

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 the outside world and some models or
templates that he already has in his
mind. For Bruner, it is rarely some
thing outside the learner that is dis
covered. Instead the discovery in
volves an internal reorganization of
1
□ D previously known ideas in order to es
unknown or 1 X or X 1 by 1 x + 2x +1-(x+1) (x+1) tablish a better fit betw
X square or 1 and the regularities of an encoun
which the learner has had to accom
other. The third flat is a small
modate. square
which is 1 by 1, and is called 1.
This is precisely the philosophy of
After allowing the children education
many op
we associate with Socrates.
portunities simply to play wi
materials and to get a feel for the
Bruner gives the children a problem.
slave boy is brou
He asks them, "Can you make larger
ing of what is inv
squares than this X square by using
area of aassquare
many of these flats as you want?" This
throughout this d
is not a difficult task for most children
teaching the boy
and they readily make another square
simply helping th
such as the one illustrated below. x
known.
Bruner almost a
focus on the pro
tion of materials. He describes the
child as moving through three levels of
representation. The first level is the
j5
x +o a\ enactive
Ux+1b = (xlevel, where. the child manipu
+ 4Hx+4)
lates materials directly. He
Bruner then asks them if they can tern. While the X's are progress
describe what they have done. They the rate of 2, 4, 6, 8, the ones are g
might reply, "We have one square X, 1,4,9,16, and on the right side
with two X's and a 1." He then asks equation the pattern is 1, 2, 3,
them to keep a record of what they have Provocative or leading question
done. He may even suggest a nota- often used Somatically to elicit th
tional system to use. The symbol Xn covery. Bruner maintains that, eve
could represent the square X, and a + the children are initially una
for "and." Thus, the pieces used could break the code, they will sen
be described as XD + 2X + 1. there is a pattern and try to discov
Another way to describe their new it. Bruner then illustrates how
square, he points out, is simply to de- pupils transfer what they have le
scribe each side. With an X and a 1 to working with a balance beam.
on each side, the side can be described youngsters are ostensibly learn
as X + 1 and the square as (X + 1) only something about quadratic eq
(X + 1 ) after some work with paren- tions, but more important, so
theses. Since these are two basic ways about the discovery of mathem
of describing the same square, they can regularities. inno
be written in this way: XG + 2X + 1 = The general learning process
(X + 1) (X + 1). This description, scribed by Bruner occurs in the fol
of course, far oversimplifies the pro- ing manner: First, the child finds
cedures used. larities in his manipulation of the acc
The children continue making materials that correspond with intu
squares and generating the notation for regularities he has already c
them. (See next diagram.) understand. Notice that what the chil
At some point Bruner hypothesizes does for Bruner is to find some sor
that they will begin to discern a pat- of match between what he is doing

SEPTEMBER 1968 35

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Instructional Example: principles, he must know specific con- fied in operational terms. Subsequently
Guided Learning cepts, and prerequisite to these are they can be task-analyzed; then they
Robert Gagné takes a very different particular simple associations or facts can be taught. Gagné would subscribe
approach to instruction. He begins discriminated from each other in a to the position that psychology has
with a task analysis of the instructional distinctive manner. He continues the been successful in suggesting ways of
objectives. He always asks the ques- analysis until he ends up with the teaching only when objectives have
tion, "What is it you want the learner fundamental building blocks of learn- been made operationally clear. When
to be able to do?" This capability he ing—classically or operantly condi- objectives are not clearly stated, the
insists, must be stated specifically and tioned responses. psychologist can be of little assistance.
behaviorally. Gagné, upon completing the whole He insists on objectives clearly stated
By capability, he means the ability maP °f prerequisites, would administer in behavioral terms. They are the cor
to perform certain specific functions pretests to determine which have al- nerstones of his position,
under specified conditions. A capabil- ready been mastered. Upon completing For Bruner, the emphasis is quite
ity could be the ability to solve a num- tbe diagnostic testing, the resulting different. The emphasis is not on the
ber series. It might be the ability to Patt;ern identifies precisely what must products of learning but on the proc
solve some problems in non-metric be tauëbt- This model is particularly esses. One paragraph from Toward a
geometry. conducive to subsequent programing of Theory of Instruction captures the spirit
This capability can be conceived of materials and programed instruction, of educational objectives for Bruner.
as a terminal behavior and placed at When prerequisites are established, a After discussing the mathematics ex
the top of what will eventually be a very fight teaching program or package ample previously mentioned, he con
complex pyramid. After analyzing the develops. eludes,
task, Gagné asks, "What would you Earlier, we discussed the influ- Finally, a theory of instruction seek
need to know in order to do that?" T et ences on Bruner. What influenced take account of the fact that a curric
us say that one could not complete the Gagné? This approach to teaching ^.Ts^L^Sslm
nature of the knower and of the knowledge
task unless he could first perform pre- comes essentially from a combination
requisite tasks a and b So a pyramid tbe neo-behaviorist psychological getting process. It is the enterprise p
beeins tradition and the task analysis model cellence where the line between the subject
6 ,1 a .1 t* matter and the method grows necessarily
that dominates the fields of militar
and industrial training. It was precise
this kind of task analysis that con-
. c l c 1 * of much prior intellectual activity. To in
tributed to successful programs of pilot . F ... ......
r ° r struct someone in these disciplines is not a
training in World War II. Gagné was matter of getting him to com
trained in the neo-behaviorist tradition to mind; rather, it is to teach him to par
and spent the major portion of his early ticipate in the process that makes possible
, . _ ... the establishment of knowledge. We teach
career as an Air Force psychologist. a subject; not to produ
But in order to perform task a, one braries from that subject, but rather to get
must be able to perform tasks c and d Nature Of Objectives a ,sftudent to. !hink mathema
r self, to consider matters as a historian does,
and for task b, one must know e, f, The posi
and g. take very different points of view with getting. Knowing is a process, not a prod
respect to the objectives of education. uct• ^2' p- 72' (Italics mine)
This is one of the major reasons why Speaking to the same issue, Gagn
most attempts at evaluating the relative position is clearly different,
effectiveness of these two approaches Obviously, strategies are important
have come to naught. They really problem solving, regardless of the conte
cannot agree on the same set of ob- of the problem. The suggestion from so
. ^ . . , . , . writings is that they are of overriding im
jec ives. ny attempt to ask which IS portance as a goal of educ
better—Michigan State's football team should not formal instructio
or the Chicago White Sox—will never have the aim of teaching
So one builds a very complex pyramid succeed. The criteria for success are t0 l!"nk ? ,!f s
. .. .. . , taught, would not this produce people who
of prerequisites to prerequisites to the different,
objective which is the desired capability, have them
Gagné has developed a model for peting aga
j- „ ., J-« . i , „ , „ _ , , . aims expressed, it is exceedingly doubtful
discussing the different levels of such For Gagne, or the programed
a hierarchy. If the final capability de- struction position which can b
sired is a problem-solving capability, rived from him, the objec
the learner first must know certain instruction are capabilities. The
principles. But to understand those behavioral products that can be

36 THE SCIENCE TEACHER

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
knowledge. Knowing a set of strategies is determined entirely by the program. When the child is capable of d and e
not all that is required for thinking; it is
(Here the term "program" is used in above, he is by definition ready to learn
not even a substantial part of what is
needed. To be an effective problem solver, a broad sense, not necessarily simply b. Until then he is not ready. Gagné
the individual must somehow have acquired a series of frames.) is not concerned with genetically de
masses of structurally organized knowledge. For Bruner much less system or velopmental considerations. If the
Such knowledge is made up of content prin
ciples, not heuristic ones. [3, p. 170] (Italics order is necessary for the package, al- at age five does not have the con
mine) though such order is not precluded. In of the conservation of liquid vo
general Bruner insists on the child it is not because of an unfolding
While for Bruner "knowing is a
manipulating materials and dealing mind; he just has not had the
process, not a product," for Gagné,
with incongruities or contrasts. He will sary prior experiences. Ensure
"knowledge is made up of content prin
always try to build potential or emer- he has acquired the prerequi
ciples, not heuristic ones." Thus,
gent incongruities into the materials, haviors, and he will be able t
though both espouse the acquisition of
Robert Davis calls this operation "tor- serve [4],
knowledge as the major objective of
pedoing" when it is initiated by the For Piaget (and Bruner) the c
education, their definitions of knowl
teacher. He teaches a child something is a developing organism, p
edge and knowing are so disparate that
until he is certain the child knows it. through cognitive stages that are
the educational objectives sought by
Then he provides him with a whopper logically determined. These stage
each scarcely overlap. The philosophi
of a counterexample. This is what more or less age-related, althou
cal and psychological sources of these
differences will be discussed later in
Bruner does constantly—providing different cultures certain stage
contrasts and incongruities in order to come earlier than others. To ide
this paper. For the moment, let it be
get the child, because of his discom- whether the child is ready to lear
noted that when two conflicting ap
fort, to try to resolve this disequilib- particular concept or princip
proaches seek such contrasting objec
rium by making some discovery (cog- analyzes the structure of tha
tives, the conduct of comparative edu
nitive restructuring). This discovery taught and compares it with w
cational studies becomes extremely
difficult.2
can take the form of a new synthesis already known about the cog
or a new distinction. Piaget, too, main- structure of the child at that a
tains that cognitive development is a they are consonant, it can be
Instructional Styles process of successive disequilibria and if they are dissonant, it cannot,
Implicit in this contrast is a differ equilibria. The child, confronted by a Given this characterization
ence in what is meant by the very new situation, gets out of balance and two positions on readiness, to
words learning by discovery. For must accommodate to achieve a new one would you attribute the fo
Gagné, learning is the goal. How abalance by modifying the previous statement? ". . . any subject c
behavior or capability is learned iscognitive a structure. taught effectively in some intellectually
function of the task. It may be by dis Thus, for Gagné, instruction is a honest form to any child at any stage
covery, by guided teaching, by pracsmoothly guided tour up a carefully of development." While it sounds like
tice, by drill, or by review. The focus constructed hierarchy of objectives; Gagné, you recognize that it isn't—it's
is on learning and discovery is but one for Bruner, instruction is a roller- Bruner! [2, p. 33] And in this same
way to learn something. For Bruner,coaster ride of successive disequilibria chapter he includes an extensive dis
it is learning by discovery. The methodand equilibria until the desired cog- cussion of Piaget's position. Essen
of learning is the significant aspect. nitive state is reached or discovered, tially he is attempting to translate
For Gagné, in an instructional pro Piaget's theories into a psychology of
gram the child is carefully guided. HeReadiness instruction.
may work with programed materials or The guided learning point of view, M
a programed teacher (one who followsrepresented by Gagné, maintains that
quite explicitly a step-by-step guide).readiness is essentially a function of the
The child may be quite active. He ispresence or absence of prerequisite t
not necessarily passive; he is doing
learning. Bruner could make such a statement
things, he is working exercises, he is in the light of Piaget's experiments. If
solving problems. But the sequence is Bruner meant the statement literally;
i.e., any child can learn anything, then
2 Gagné has modified his own position somewhat
since 1965. He would now tend to agree, more or it just is not true! There are always
less, with Bruner on the importance of processes things a child cannot learn, especially
or strategies as objectives of education. He has
not, however, changed his position regarding the not in an intellectually honest way. If
role of sequence in instruction, the nature of readi
ness, or any of the remaining topics in this he means it homiletically, i.e., we can
paper. [5] The point of view concerning specific take almost anything and somehow re
behavioral products as objectives is still espoused
by many educational theorists and Gagné's earlier say it, reconstruct it, restructure it so
arguments are thus still relevant as reflections of
that position. it now has a parallel at the child's level

SEPTEMBER 1968 37

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
of cognitive functioning, then it may individual and on the subject matter. We For Bruner, the same diagram may
be a truism. still need a great deal of research to know appropriate, but the direction of the
what the optimal time would be. [6, p. 82] , , , , , IT ,
I believe that what Bruner is saying, arrow would be changed. He has a
and it is neither trivial nor absurd, is The question that has not been pUph begin with problem solving. This
that our older conceptions of readinessanswered, and which Piaget whimsically process is analogous to teaching some
have tended to apply Piagetian theory calls the American question, is the one tQ swjm by throwing him into deep
in the same way as some have for empirical experimental question: To water. The theory is that he will learn
generations applied Rousseau's. The what extent it is possible through a t^e fundamentals because he needs
old thesis was, "There is the child— Gagnéan approach to accelerate what them The analogy is not totally mis
he is a developing organism, with in Piaget maintains is the invariant clock- begotten. In some of the extreme dis
variant order, invariant schedule. Here,work of the order? Studies being con- covery approaches we lose a lot of
too, is the subject matter, equally hal ducted in Scandinavia by Smedslund pupils by mathematical or scientific
lowed by time and unchanging. We and in this country by Irving Sigel, drowning. As one goes to the extreme
take the subject matter as our starting Egon Mermelstein, and others are at- of this position, he runs the risk of
point, watch the child develop, and tempting to identify the degree to which some drownings. For Gagné, the se
feed it in at appropriate times as he such processes as the principle of con- quence is from the simple to the com
reaches readiness." Let's face it; that servation of volume can be accelerated. pjex; for Bruner one starts with the
has been our general conception of If I had to make a broad generaliza- complex and plans to learn the simple
readiness. We gave reading readiness tion, I would have to conclude that at components in the context of working
tests and hesitated to teach the pupil this point, in general, the score for with the compiex.
reading until he was "ready." The those who say you cannot accelerate is js unclear whether Bruner sub
notion is quite new that the reading somewhat higher than the score for scribes to his position because of his
readiness tests tell not when to begin those who say that you can. But the concept of the nature of learning or
question is far from resolved, we need jor strictly motivational reasons. Chil
teaching the child, but rather what has
to be done to get him more ready. We many more inventive attempts to ac- (jren may be motivated more quickly
used to just wait until he got ready. celerate cognitive development than we when given a problem they cannot
What Bruner is suggesting is that we have had thus far. There remains the soiVe, than they are when given some
must modify our conception of readi question of whether such attempts at little things to learn on the promiSe that
ness so that it includes not only the experimental acceleration are strictly of jf they learn these well, three weeks
child but the subject matter. Subject interest for psychological theory, or from now they will be able to solve an
matter, too, goes through stages of have important pedagogical implica- exciting problem. Yet, Bruner clearly
readiness. The same subject matter tions as well a question we do not maintains that learning things in this
can be represented at a manipulative have space to examine here. fashion also improves the transfer
or enactive level, at an ikonic level, ability of what is learned. It is to a
and finally at a symbolic or formal Sequence of the Curriculum consideration of the issue of transfer
level. The resulting model is Bruner's The implications for the sequence of training that we now turn,
concept of a spiral curriculum. the curriculum growing from these two
Piaget himself seems quite dubious positions are quite different. For Transfer of Training
over the attempts to accelerate cogni Gagné, the highest level of learning is j0 examine the psychologies of
tive development that are reflected in problem solving; lower levels involve learning of these two positions in any
many modern math and science cur facts, concepts, principles, etc. Clearly, )Qn(] Gf comprehensive form would re
ricula. On a recent trip to the United for Gagné, the appropriate sequence in quire greater attention than can be
States, Piaget commented, learning is, in terms of the diagram devoted here, but we shall consider one
... we know that it takes nine to twelve below, from the bottom up. One be- concept—that of transfer of training,
gins
months before babies develop the notion with simple prerequisites and This js probably the central concept,
that an object is still there even when a
works up, pyramid fashion, to the com- or should be, in any educationally rele
screen is placed in front of it. Now kittens
go through the same stages as children, all plex capability sought. vant psychology of learning.
the same sub-stages, but they do it in three Gagné considers himself a conserva
months—so they're six months ahead of tive on matters of transfer. He states
babies. Is this an advantage or isn't it? We that "transfer occurs because of the
can certainly see our answer in one sense.
The kitten is not going to go much further. occurrence of specific identical (or
a:
The child has taken longer, but he is capable UJ highly similar) elements within devel
of going further, so it seems to me that the Z
3 opmental sequences" [4, p. 20], To
nine months probably were not for nothing. 0£
It's probably possible to accelerate, but CO
the extent that an element which has
maximal acceleration is not desirable. There been learned, be it association, concept,
seems to be an optimal time. What this
optimal time is will surely depend upon each Continued on page 89

38 THE SCIENCE TEACHER

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Psychological Controversies— other manner—which will transfer This is a pessimistic view, and I hope
Continued from page 38 across grossly different kinds of tasks, that future studies might find it flawed.

or principle, can be directly employed is transfer of training superior Synthesis Or Selection

in a new situation, transfer will occur. |n the discovery situation when the Need we eternally code these as tWQ
If the new context requires a behavior gaming of principles is involved. alternatives_discovery versus exposi.
substantially different from the specific There are two kinds of transfer posi- tQry teaching_or can we> without be_
capability mastered earlier, there will tlvÇ transfer and negative transfer. We . heretical manage to keep both of
be no transfer caU something positive transfer when .
no uausiei. =■ r these in our methodological repertories
.v , j v mastery of task X facilitates mastery of , . , „
Bruner, on the other hand, sub- ■' , as mathematics and science educators?
*■ i_ At c task Y. Negative transfer occurs when
scribes to the broadest theories of task x Qf John Dewe
ransfer of training. Bruner believes ^ y positive .g & familjar piclous wh
mm one m notion for us. Negative transfer can be troversy betw
from one learning situation to another. exemDbfied bv a niece of advice base- position
Broad transfer of training occurs when . the other was totallv in error The
6 . t , ball coaches often give their players. me otner was totally in
one can identify in the structures of They ^ them nQt to pJay golf during classic example of t
ÎnW fundamentally ^ baseba]1 because ^ base. graph Experience and Ed
lernen well pan h Tu'î'♦ bal1 swin8 and the golf swing involve which he examines the
other,1
other t TV°
subject totaI1y
mutters different
within thut dis~muscles andtpschps
tion l~)pwev body traditional versus
nc that whpnpvpr progr
. ,. , , „ movements. Becoming a better golf uon- uewey teacnes us tnat wnenever
cipline and to other disciplines as well sw-nger interferes with the basebal, we confront this kind of contro
He gives examples such as the concept swing Iq psychological terms there is we must look for the possib
of conservation or balance. Is it not negatiye transfer between golf and each position is massively butt
possible to teach balance of trade in basebajj a brilliant half-truth from whic
economics in such a way that when ..... , , . . . r trapolated the whole cloth of an
ecological balance is considered, pupils . what ls needed for positive transfer cational philosophy xhat is
see the parallel? This could then be f to minimize all possible interference. a idea wgars ^ ag ^ a
extended to balance of power in politi- Ia transfer of training there are some insjst ^ R
cal science, or to balancing equations. ways in which the tasks transferred to propriate domain
tr . , . c D . are like the ones learned first, but in
th I TP°h i1 f'tn rTer' !S other ways they are different. So trans- As educ
the broad transferability of the knowl- ^ always involyes striking a ba,ance impor
edge - getting Processes — strategies, thcse conflicting potentials for under whi
heuristics and the like—a transfer ^ ^ be applied most
whose viability leaves Gagne with deep disCQVcry methodS; learners may trans. must
feelings of doubt. This is the question fer more easjjy becausg they learn the lives
of whether earning by discovery leads immediate Mngs /gyy weR They may versy ca
to the ability to discover, that is, the ^ Jeam ^ brQad strokes a prin_ of which
development of broad inquiry com- ^ which .g ^ mogt critical at the leve
petencies in students. for ^ judgments. Given one set of goals,
What does the evidence from em- wg]1 the detailed appiication of that cIearly the Positlon Gagné ad
pineal studies of this issue seem to jfic principle> which could interfere presently has more evidence
demonstrate? The findings are not all somewhat with successful remote favor; 8lven another set of Soa
that consistent. I would generalize transfer 's no question but that Bruner's posi
them by saying that most often guided , . .. . tion is preferable to Gagné's.
. If this formulation is correct, we are
learning or expository sequences seem ^ {o find
to be superior methods or achieving ^ ^ for tremen
immediate learning. With regard to leaming of products
long-term retention the results seem ^ because we are d
equivocal, with neither approach con- system jn which
sistently better. Discovery learning ap- Jq ^
proaches appear to be superior when transfer is re
the criterion of transfer of principles to . " that are well organized so that we can
new situations is employed [9], Notably e ms ructor. may have to decide take notes in a systematic manner,
absent are studies which deal with the which 1S more important an immedi- 0thers of us like nothing better than a
question of whether general techniques, ate specific product or broad transfer free-flowing bull session; and each of
strategies, and heuristics of discovery and choose his subsequent teaching us ;s convinced that we learn more in
can be learned—by discovery or in any method on the basis of that decision, our preferred mode than the others

SEPTEMBER 1968 89

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
learn in theirs. Individual differences Theories of Learning ence education today, it is that rarely
in learning styles are major determi
and the Science and have any disciplines been so rich in
nants of the kinds of approaches that theory and brilliant ideas. But we must
work best with different children.
Mathematics Curriculum
seriously consider the admonition of
Yet this is something we have in There is a growing psychology of Ivan Pavlov, the great Russian psy
general not taken into consideration at learning that is finally becoming chologist,
mean who is said to have told his
all in planning curricula—and for very ingful to curriculum construction and
students the following:
good reasons. As yet, we do not have educational practice. Children are be Ideas and theories are like the wings of
ing studied as often as rats, and birds; they allow man to soar and to climb
class
any really valid ways of measuring to the heavens. But facts are like the atmos
these styles. Once we do, we will have rooms as often as mazes. Research phere against which those wings must beat,
a powerful diagnostic tool. Subject with lower animals has been extremely and without which the soaring bird will
matter, objectives, characteristics of useful in identifying some principles surely plummet
of back to earth.
children, and characteristics of the learning that are so basic, so funda
References
teacher are all involved in this educa mental, so universal that they apply to Bruner, Jerome S. The Process of Edu
tional decision. Some teachers are no any fairly well-organized blob of pro cation. Harvard University Press, Cam
toplasm. But there is a diminishing
more likely to conduct a discovery bridge, Massachusetts. 1960.
Bruner, Jerome S. Toward a Theory of
return
learning sequence than they are to go in this approach insofar as trans Instruction. Belknap Press, Cambridge,
frugging at a local nightclub. fer to educational practice is con Massachusetts. 1966.
cerned. Today, a developing, em
There appear to be middle routes Gagné, Robert M. The Conditions of
pirically based psychology of learning Learning. Holt, Rinehart & Winston,
as well. In many of the experimental New York. 1965.
for homo sapiens olfers tremendous Gagné, Robert M. Contributions of
studies of discovery learning, an experi
mental treatment labeled guided dis promise. But it can never be immedi Learning to Human Development. Ad
ately translatable into a psychology of dress of the Vice-President, Section I
covery is used. In guided discovery, (Psychology), American Association for
the subjects are carefully directed down the teaching of mathematics or science.
the Advancement of Science, Washing
Mathematics and science educators ton, D.C. December 1966.
a particular path along which they are
must not make the mistake that the Gagné, Robert M. Personal communica
called upon to discover regularities and tion. May 1968.
solutions on their own. They are pro reading people have made and con Jennings, Frank G. "Jean Piaget: Notes
tinue to make. The reason that the
vided with cues in a carefully pro on Learning." Saturday Review, May
gramed manner, but the actual state psychology of the teaching of reading
20, 1967, p. 82.
"Pain
the & Progress in Discovery." TIME,
ment of the principle or problem solu has made such meager progress in December 8, 1967, pp. 110 ff.
tion is left up to them. Many of the last 25 years is that the reading peo Shulman, Lee S. and Keislar, Evan R.,
ple have insisted on being borrowers. Editors. Learning by Discovery: A
well-planned Socratic dialogues of our
Something new happens in Critical Appraisal. Rand-McNally, Chi
linguistics
fine teachers are forms of guided dis cago. 1966.
covery. The teacher carefully leads theand within three years a linguistic read Worthen, Blaine R. "Discovery and Ex
pupils into a series of traps from which ing series is off the press. It ispository
an Task Presentation in Elemen
they must now rescue themselves. attempt to bootleg an idea from one
tary Mathematics." Journal of Educa
tional Psychology Monograph Supple
field and put it directly into another
In the published studies, guided dis ment 59: 1, Part 2; February 1968.
without the necessary intervening steps
covery treatments generally have done
of empirical testing and research.
quite well both at the level of imme
Mathematics and science education New Magazine Reviews
diate learning and later transfer. Per
are in grave danger of making that Science Books for Children
haps this approach allows us to put the
Bruner roller-coaster of discovery onsame error, especially with the work
The Children's Science Book Review

of Piaget and Bruner. What is neededCommittee, a nonprofit organization

the well-laid track of a Gagné hier sponsored by the Harvard Graduate
archy. now are well-developed empirically
School of Education and the New Eng
based psychologies of mathematics and land Round Table of Children's Li
Thus, the earlier question of which
science learning. Surely they will grow
brarians, announces the inception of
is better, learning by discovery or
out of what is already known about theAppraisal, a new periodical devoted to
guided learning, now can be restated the belief that science books for children
psychology of learning in general, but
in more functional and pragmatic deserve the same careful selection as do
terms. Under what conditions are each
they must necessarily depend upon
literary works. In Appraisal each book
people like yourselves, your students,
is given two reviews: one by a librarian
of these instructional approaches, some
and your colleagues who are interested
and one by a subject-matter specialist.
sequence or combination of the two,
of some synthesis of them, most likely in mathematics and science conductingSubscriptions ($3 domestic, $3.75 for
eign) should be sent to Appraisal, Chil
to be appropriate? The answers to suchempirical studies of how certain spedren's Science Book Review Committee,
questions ought to grow out of quite cific concepts are learned under certain
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
comprehensive principles of human specific conditions with certain specific207 Byerly Hall, Appian Way, Cam
learning. Where are we to find such kinds of pupils. If anything is true bridge, Massachusetts 02138. Published
principles? about the field of mathematics and sei three times a year; single copies, $1.25.

90 THE SCIENCE TEACHER

This content downloaded from

213.55.85.43 on Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:19:49 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms