And here we go again! This is the seventh out of a series of 12 blogs talking about Mosston & Ashworth's Spectrum of Teaching Styles. Today, we (Alba and Risto) explain the Guided Discovery Style (F).
This blog is based on episode 262 of the podcast Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education. This blog is almost verbatim from the podcast, so if you prefer the audio version, here is the link for episode 262. You can also listen to the first episodes of this series in the following links #254, #255, #257, #259, #260, and #261, or read the first six blogs #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6. All of the podcasts are listed by category on a google doc that you can find as the pinned tweet on the account @theHPEpodcast on Twitter. Alternatively, you can find it here. You can find the website where you can download the book for free and find more information and resources at the end of this blog.
The Guided Discovery Style (F) is the first style in which students will discover or produce knowledge through questions or problems set by the teacher. This means that we are now on the other side of the discovery threshold in which learners start to produce knowledge rather than only reproducing what is taught by the teacher. In this specific style, the teacher logically designs questions that guide the students to discover predetermined responses.
In other words, the content being taught will be reinforced through logical and sequential thinking. So, a series of carefully crafted questions are designed by the teacher to lead learners to discover the specific predetermined target concept, principle, relationship, or rule that they still do not know. Teaching through this style takes skill since the questions need to be well thought out in a way that the students will reach the answers expected, if this does not happen there is a need for the teacher to reexamine the questions.
When we think about the content being taught, it can’t be knowledge that the students already know or that they can’t discover. So, for example, history, facts, names, and dates can’t be taught using this style. If the students already learned the answer to the questions asked by the teachers, the questioning then is actually part of the questioning in style B-the practice style. Another thing to consider is that this style works better when implemented individually. If we ask the question to the whole group and one student answers, the other students will not have an opportunity to discover what is being taught. However, if you have students working together it is important to check if each of them internalized the concept being taught. In other words, it is not enough to have one learner stating the concept and not being sure the other learners are also discovering what is being taught.
In this style, the responsibility of the teacher is still to choose the subject matter-so, the target concept, and the sequence of questions. Additionally, it is still the role of the teacher to make all the logistical decisions. The learner on the other hand should link the different elements in each of the questions to discover the predetermined concept using logical thinking. So, the teacher designs the questions that lead to the predetermined response and the learner discovers the answer.
This is very common in some of the game-based approaches we have discussed previously in this podcast such as teaching games for understanding and tactical games. These models normally start off with a game that contains the tactics that learners will learn during that class. The teacher designs small-sided games that need certain skills and specific tactics to win. After the game, the teacher calls the students to a tactical awareness piece of the class and asks a series of specific questions that lead students to answers related to the strategies and skills they used to win the game. The students reflect on their gameplay to answer the question. If the teacher is successful in developing the games and the questions, the students will discover the needed tactics and skills. In other words, the teacher’s questioning guided the students to the answer. Then, the teacher chooses another style to teach the learners the skills they found out are needed to play the game.
There is a great illustration of how to structure this style in the book. It is the ladder of the guided discovery
The floor is where the teacher sets the scene for the learning experience, so, the game in the example above would be an example.
The first many steps of the ladder are the relevant small steps that guide the students toward the discovery-the questions
Then there is a gap, a step that is too large for learners to continue climbing, and that represents the larger concept to be discovered
Once the students find out how to climb that large step they get to the target concept which is the top floor of the image.
It is important to know that episodes of guided discovery are short, and they need more than one question. Also, simply asking questions does not mean that the teacher is using the guided discovery style since questions are asked in all the teaching-learning objectives. To characterize as guided discovery the questions need to use a convergent process, meaning that the learners are guided to a specific answer and not to creative moments or to explore multiple answers.
If you look at the examples in the book, many times teachers will have more than 10 questions. So, I will give a shorter example here. Let’s imagine the teacher is trying to teach the concept of levels of difficulty in climbing. Many climbing walls in gyms have different routes pointed out with different colors. Let’s say green is the beginners’ level, followed by white, yellow, blue, and pink. The teacher can set the stage by telling students to try and get from one side of the wall to the other without specifying a route. Students try a few times, and the teacher calls the student and gives them a sheet of paper with the following questions and answers:
What do you notice when you look at the wall? What is similar or different throughout the wall?
There are different colors of holds
2. What is different if we follow one or the other color of holds
The distance, position, and size of the holds
3. Which hand or foot hold would you go to if you wanted to have an easier route to get to the other side of the wall?
The closest one in front of me
The largest one
4. Which hand or foot hold would you go to if you wanted to have a more difficult route to get to the other side of the wall?
A furthest hold
A smaller hold
5. Looking at the wall, and considering your answer, what is the sequence of levels of difficulty of the routes?
green, white, yellow, blue, and pink
6. Let’s test out your responses!
While the students analyze the wall and attempt to answer the questions the teacher goes around providing positive feedback to their process of discovering the response (again, simple yes, very good, or correct will do). The teacher gathers the students and goes over the answers as a closure. This would conclude the guided discovery episode of the class. So, learners found out that there are different routes on the climbing wall and that they have different characteristics that make them more or less difficult. For the next activity, the teacher can choose the inclusion style in which students will assess the levels that they are at in climbing and cross the wall multiple times trying to evolve to the next climbing level.
Thinking that guided discovery is better to be done in one-on-one situations since learners’ discovery process can come in different sequences and paces, I would suggest having the questions on a paper in the example above.
Guided discovery can also happen in episodes with one student on the side when explaining a reason for something that was asked of them. For example, after teaching a student different positions to shoot a puck in hockey, the teacher can have a sequence of questions with hypothetical tactical situations to lead the learner to discover which shooting positioning is more likely to be successful in each tactical situation.
The subject matter objectives in this style emphasize the discovery of the target concept and the interconnections of the steps in the tasks. The aim here is for learners to experience the discovery process in a sequence of steps to find the skills that logically lead to broader concepts.
The behavior objective is to have students cross the discovery threshold. The focus is to have students discover concepts and principles that represent convergent thinking. The learners are now engaging in a cognitive relationship between stimulus provided by the teacher and discovery responses. Additionally, there is the aim to develop an effective and affective climate that provides the thrill of finding out new concepts with a moment of “Eureka”.
In wrapping up this style, there are a few rules to designing the sequence of teaching and learning experiences. The teacher should
never tell the answer,
wait for the response of the learners giving them time to engage in mediation,
provide frequent positive feedback such as nodding or saying that they are correct,
and maintain patience and a climate of acceptance to keep the flow of the process.
That’s all we have for you on this one. Once again, I encourage you to download the book that is free. You can find great examples of how the spectrum is applied in PE and resources that can help you successfully integrate the different styles of teaching in your classes. I’ll be back soon with blogs explaining the next teaching styles, stay tuned.
Thanks for reading!
Alba and Risto
For more resources see below:
Full Cite: Mosston, M., & Ashworth, S. (2008). Teaching physical education: First online edition, 2008. https://spectrumofteachingstyles.org/index.php?id=16
Visit: https://www.spectrumofteachingstyles.org
Twitter: @spectrumots