Assessment of discovery approach

Abstract

An instructor's responsibility is to create and promote an active learning environment in which the learners themselves participate and take the center stage with the process of knowledge acquisition. Obviously this reduces students' dependence on the professor. Furthermore, the instructor must encourage the establishment of a dynamic dialog that requires a deeper level of processing. We all agree on the fact that almost all professors ask the students to take ownership of their own learning. The discovery approach used by the author tries to build on these principles to establish an innovative instructional design by marrying content with presentation style in theory as well as in practice. Utilizing real-world problems as a stimulus for student learning is not at all new and has been in practice for a very long time. Educators have understood that scholars have defined problem-based learning as minds-on, hands-on, focused, experiential learning. Instructors have also been encouraged to act as cognitive coaches who can nurture an environment that can support open inquiry. The author was inspired by the unique ideas presented by these scholars and researchers. He has tried to build on such intelligent ideas to develop a discovery approach of instructional technique. Discovery approach aims to help the students to accomplish more and achieve independence instead of interdependence. The author has tried to successfully utilize some of the scholarly ideas of leading researchers while implementing the development of discovery approach into his current classroom activities. In this presentation, the author describes how he has incorporated the principles of Socratic inquisition to assist the adaptation of the discovery approach. He also presents analyses of the feedback data he has collected and provides guidelines for continuous improvement. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.