Problems associated with discovery and inquirybased learning

While it is true that active methods such as discovery learning and inquiry based learning are often quite effective in arousing children’s interest and in holding their attention, it is equally true that these methods are not particularly effective when first introducing children to a new subject or skill. It is much more effective to begin by teaching children new information and skills directly, rather than expecting them to discover these for themselves by trial and error. Even in subjects such as science, where discovery and inquiry have been most strongly promoted, it is now believed that direct teaching is often much more effective. If the children are first taught the information and skills they need for particular situations, discovery and inquiry activities are much more valuable later.

Unfortunately, that is not the way in which these methods are usually applied in schools. Children who lack confidence in their own ability, and who may have poor literacy, numeracy and study skills are often totally at sea in unstructured learning situations; they may look busy, but they learn and remember very little. Unstructured learning situations can create problems in learning.

Other problems associated with teaching
The following factors associated with teaching can also cause or exacerbate learning difficulties:

• The teacher, when explaining, instructing or questioning, may use language that is too complex. Children quickly learn not to listen if they do not understand what the teacher is saying – thus creating problems in learning. As teachers gain experience, they usually become more skilled in effective classroom communication.
• There may be a shortage of suitable teaching materials (books, diagrams, computer programs, maps, etc). In areas such as literacy development, for example, the provision of sufficient books and other print material at the correct level of difficulty greatly enhances children’s opportunities to learn.
• Due to pressure from an overloaded curriculum, or for other reasons, the teacher may move ahead too quickly and devote too little time for practice. As we will see later, abundant successful practice is one of the surest ways of learning effectively and developing essential skills. Practice is also essential for overcoming learning difficulties if they do arise.
• Sometimes children experience difficulties in concentrating in classrooms that are noisy or where different activities are going on at the same time. Activity methods tend to create a number of distractions that some children can’t ignore.
• Associated with classroom activities and cooperative methods is the practice of seating children in working groups around tables. Such grouping can create a very distracting situation where individual children in the group find it hard to attend to and complete their own work due to the activity of others.
• In addition, group work can create a classroom management problem for the teacher, and he or she may have difficulty monitoring children’s work closely enough to recognise when certain individuals are having difficulties. If the difficulties are not detected, no extra support will be provided and the problems accumulate. The experts suggest that teachers should address this problem by setting different levels of work for different ability groups or individuals within the class. Schools now refer to this practice as ‘differentiation’ or ‘adaptive teaching’. In reality, it is far from easy for teachers to present work at a variety of levels within the same classroom, at the same time giving high quality instruction and support to individuals. The larger the class, the more difficult it is to differentiate the curriculum effectively. Regardless of all the publicity that differentiation receives in curriculum guidelines for teachers, differentiation is actually extremely difficult to plan, implement and sustain every day.

Read More : Problems associated with discovery and inquirybased learning

School Curriculum For Learning Difficulty

In schools, the term ‘curriculum’ describes the content or subject matter of what is to be taught across the age range. Curriculum content includes essential information, concepts, skills, attitudes and values that society believes children should be helped to acquire. Traditionally, the curriculum in school is organised into ‘subjects’, such as mathematics, geography, English, French, science, and so forth; although in pre-schools and some primary schools these subjects may be fully integrated, rather than taught separately.

Generally, the content of the curriculum at any particular age is chosen to match the mental maturity level of the children, and to build on their existing knowledge and experience. This is done to avoid creating learning
difficulties by introducing a particular concept that is too far beyond the current understanding of average children of that age. For example, we don’t try to teach children in the first year of school how to multiply fractions, and we don’t require them to critique the plays of Shakespeare; such things are rightly covered much later in school life. In other words, curriculum content (subject matter) is usually organised into what educators call a ‘developmental sequence’ that progresses smoothly from simple concepts and skills in the early years to more advanced material later.

School curriculum as a source of learning difficulty
The curriculum can become a source of difficulty when the following problems arise: the work is too difficult, the work is boring, or progress is not monitored carefully by the teacher. Let us examine each of these potential problem areas.

The work is too difficult
For some reason, a teacher might decide to ignore the normal developmental sequence embodied in any well designed program, and instead introduce information, concepts or principles that are beyond the level of
understanding of some children. A similar problem is created if the teacher progresses too quickly through the curriculum, moving on to new work before some of the children have mastered earlier topics or skills. This can happen if the teacher is inexperienced, inefficient, or perhaps is teaching a new subject for the first time.

Even when teachers do follow the recommended curriculum sequence, in fairly large classes with students of varying ability, it is not surprising that from time to time some children are given work that is either much too
complex, or much too simple – both situations leading to frustration and disengagement. When the demands of curriculum content and learning activities are pitched too high or too low, learners may cease to learn.

In an ideal situation, the content of the school curriculum should be challenging enough to motivate the children, but not so challenging that it causes some children to become confused and discouraged. If subject
matter is unavoidably complex, the teacher should break the material down into smaller steps and teach that content very carefully, checking frequently for understanding. ‘Nothing recedes like success’ if the subject matter gets too difficult too quickly.

The work is boring
Ideally, children need to be genuinely interested in what they are required to learn and they need to perceive the topic or skill as being of value to them. While it is certainly possible to learn things that do not interest you,
it is far easier to maintain attention and give maximum effort to learning if the material is genuinely interesting. Psychologists refer to such material as ‘intrinsically motivating’. In contrast, dull material causes boredom, and
boredom leads to off-task behaviour such as daydreaming and time wasting. Once the child’s attention is lost, no useful learning occurs and over time the child begins to have problems with this school subject.

It is true, of course, that not all curriculum content can be intrinsically motivating. For example, practising addition and subtraction processes in arithmetic in order to become fast and accurate is not necessarily intensely interesting. In such cases, we may need to present this work in novel ways, through games and activities or computer software; and we may need to reward and praise children from time to time for engaging willingly in such work.

Children’s progress is not monitored carefully
One important aspect of the curriculum involves the regular assessment of children’s learning. This is usually achieved through some form of testing, together with careful observation and checking of children’s work in exercise books or folders. The main aim of such testing and observation is to reveal any children who are not doing well and who may need further instruction and additional practice. If teachers do not regularly check on
children’s progress, they may not notice quickly enough when a particular child is having difficulties. If the learning problem is not recognised early and remedied, it is likely to get worse.

Sometimes there is the problem that even if a teacher does assess children regularly he or she never has time later to help those who reveal their difficulties. Over the years we have tried to ensure that teachers understand that ‘assessment must lead to action’ – but in reality this often does not happen through lack of time and resources in school.
Read More : School Curriculum For Learning Difficulty

Teaching method as a source of difficulty

The term ‘teaching method’ refers to the way in which a teacher presents new topics to the children, engages them in appropriate learning activities and provides corrective feedback. Methods range from formal (for example, directly presenting and explaining new information or demonstrating a new skill to the children) to the informal (for example, creating a situation in which children are required to discover new information through their own activities). A single lesson in any subject may involve some direct teaching, some student activity using instructional materials, some group discussion, and some feedback and summarising by the teacher.

Teaching methods are usually described as tending towards either ‘teacher-directedness’ or ‘student-centredness’ in their emphasis. Different subject areas in the school curriculum call for different methods of teaching in order to achieve the goals for learning in that subject. Teachers need to select the most appropriate teaching methods to suit the type of subject matter to be taught, the age and ability level of the children, the children’s previous experience and knowledge, and the available time and resources.

Until recently, the method of teaching was rarely investigated as a possible cause of learning difficulty. Teachers seem to assume that if something is taught (which usually means explained or demonstrated), it is

automatically learned; and if it is not learned, then the problem must be due to inadequacies in the child’s own ability, motivation or persistence, not to the effectiveness of the teaching method. Parents also assume too
readily that a learning problem must be related directly to the child’s ability or effort, not to the method of instruction. Researchers in the field of education are now recognising, however, that learning problems arise
if inappropriate methods of instruction are applied. Not all methods are equally effective in achieving particular goals in learning. Let us examine the teaching of reading and mathematics as examples of situations where some popular approaches have proved to be less effective than others.

Direct teaching versus indirect teaching: the case of learning to read
In the past few years, important reports published in Britain, the United States of America and Australia have been highly critical of the way in which literacy skills are being taught in the majority of primary schools in
those countries. Basically, the reports indicate that over the previous two decades the direct teaching of phonic skills – designed to enable a young child to read and spell using knowledge of letter-to-sound correspondences – has been seriously neglected. Instead, teachers have been trained and encouraged to use a popular method called ‘whole language approach’ in which direct teaching of phonic skills and spelling is frowned upon.

Teachers who use whole language approach believe that children will learn to read, write and spell without needing direct instruction if they are given daily opportunities to engage in reading and writing activities, and if they receive positive feedback from the teacher. In other words, these teachers believe that learning to read and write is a ‘natural’ process; all it requires is for children to be self-motivated and active learners in order to discover their way to functional literacy with minimal guidance from the teacher.

The evidence is, however, that some children (particularly in the early stages) simply do not discover the basic principles of reading and writing in an alphabetic language unless they are clearly and directly taught. The absence of direct teaching is the main cause of reading difficulty for most of these children.

Direct teaching versus indirect teaching: the case of mathematics
In recent years, the teaching of number skills and mathematical problem solving has also favoured a ‘discovery’ or ‘activity’ approach rather than direct instruction. It has become unpopular, for example, for teachers to drill children in basic arithmetic processes and multiplication tables because it is claimed that they will easily pick up these skills along the way if they simply engage every day in solving problems that involve counting, measuring, comparing and calculating. But some (possibly many) children do not benefit from this activity-based approach and instead need to have basic numeracy skills taught directly and then practised to the point of mastery. It is clear that some children have significant difficulties learning mathematics because the underlying skills and concepts have not been taught clearly and effectively or practised sufficiently.
Read More : Teaching method as a source of difficulty