METHODS OF
TEACHING PRIMARY SCHOOL
SCIENCE
DISCOVERY METHOD
Outline
• What is the Discovery Method?
• Steps in the Discovery Method
• Role of the Teacher
• Role of the Student
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
What is the Discovery Method?
• Discovery is a teaching method which enables
students/learners to find out answers to problems by
themselves.
• In discovery students are involved in learning how to learn.
• Discovery-learning is the learning that takes place when
students are not presented with subject matter in its final form
but rather are required to organize it themselves.
What is the Discovery Method?
• Pure discovery is where pupils find out answers or facts for
themselves based on a problem or something that already existed
but was not known.
• Directed discovery is where the teacher generally creates the
conditions under which the pupils will discover for themselves that
which someone else has previously discovered.
Steps in the Discovery Method
There are five steps/phases of the discovery-learning method.
1. Identification of the problem. In the first step, spontaneous
guesses are made which might or might not lead to the choice
of the appropriate problem or topic.
2. The second step entails the location and the definition of the
problem through a systematic and rational perusal of the
problem isolated. This is the stage where the student begins
to understand the various aspects of the problem.
Steps in the Discovery Method
3. In the third step of the process, the student formulates a
working hypothesis which leads to gathering further
information. The working hypothesis serves as a model that
guides the student towards the resolution of the problem.
4. In the fourth step, the student engages in critical thinking
which helps him to forge relationships between ideas.
5. In the fifth and final step the student embarks upon
experimentation and direct observation which ultimately help
him to accept or reject the hypothesis which he has
formulated.
Role of the Teacher
• Creates the necessary conditions for the learning to be
successful.
• Ensures that the learners understand the problem.
• Supervises carefully to prevent chaos.
• Act as a co-learner
• Serves as a facilitator, a catalyst and not a purveyor of
knowledge.
• Sees to it that resources and materials are available to facilitate
the resolution or the problem.
• Encourages students through the use of questions to look for
related issues, state hypothesis and clarifies the hypothesis.
Role of the Student
• Identify a problem.
• Analyze the problem.
• Find alternative solutions to the problem.
• Participate in a general discussion with the teacher.
• Communicate among group members and their teacher
Advantages
• Since the learners actively discover the information and
knowledge, retention will be increased.
• Discovery helps the learner to learn how to follow leads and clues
and record findings.
• When learners discover knowledge for themselves they are
motivated.
• Learners develop attitudes and skills essential for self-directed
learning.
Advantages
• Offers the learners the opportunity to master the art of problem
solving.
• Makes what the students learn more of his own and part of him.
• Offers the student an insight into the fact that real knowledge is
the product of inquiry.
• The methods to increase the self-confidence of the student. And
this, in turn, makes him rely on his own intellectual capacities to
learn.
Disadvantages
• Permitting the students to discover knowledge on their own is
time-consuming.
• Learners may/often get stuck or lose direction before the
problem is solved.
• Learners may/often discover things other than what was
intended to be discovered.
• Learners usually may not be able to discover anything
significant.
Disadvantages
• The method is very costly in terms of the amount and variety of
material and equipment needed to operationalize it effectively.
• In some instances, the student get confused since the method
does not make for an organized and exact statement of what is
to be learned.
