David P. Ausubel formulated a new theory called meaningful learning theory. He was a very well known mathematician in 1950's decade who propounded meaningful learning theory. In his time the lecture method was being so criticized however he emphasized on the same nature of learning. In his time lots of mathematician was arguing about problem solving and discovery learning in against of lecture method of learning. They was saying that lecture method of learning is cause of rote learning however Dr. Ausuble with some experiment said that rote learning is the product of problem solving method of teaching. He further says that some problems are given to the student; if they don't have any idea to solve it then they try to remember the way of solving the problem guided by their teacher. There are some ideas to make the learning meaningful but exposition/reception method is the first and fundamental base of that learning. We can study his theory into two parts. One is Reception vs. Discovery learning and other is meaningful vs. rote learning. Some short notes about these are presented below:
Reception vs. Discovery Learning:
It is a one way of studying the theory of David P. Ausuble. He is not totally in against of discovery learning however he focuses that reception learning is much more effective than discovery learning. In which situation the reception and discovery learning are effective? Read both of the scenarios found below and then answer the questions. Answers may be found following the questions.
Scenario A: Ram, a three and a half year old boy, is fascinated by the glowing red color of the burners on his parents stove. He has been repeatedly told not to touch the burners on the stove but doesn't seem to care. After having many of his attempts to touch the stove burners thwarted by his parents, Ram finally succeeds in touching a glowing red burner. His efforts earn him a severely burned finger and some valuable knowledge. "Never touch the burners on a stove, especially when their red."
Scenario B: An eighth grade science class is beginning a new section on astronomy and the solar system. They were instructed to read the chapter specifically dealing with this information outside of class while the teacher begins his/her verbal lectures over the material.
Questions
1 What type of learning is taking place in each scenario?
2 From scenario (A) we can see that Ram's parents did an inadequate job of teaching him the dangers of touching a hot burner. What was wrong with their approach? What could they have done better if anything at all?
3 Which scenario requires a later stage of cognitive development? Why?
4 Do the scenarios take place on an individual basis or do they require outside assistance?
5 If you were teaching a class about the solar system would you use "Discovery" or "Reception" learning? Why?
6 Which type of learning do you think Ausubel was more focused?
Response
1 For the most part, large bodies of subject matter are acquired through Reception learning, whereas everyday problems of living are solved through Discovery learning.
2 Reception learning, although phenomenological simpler than discovery learning, paradoxically emerges later developmentally and particularly in its more advanced and pure verbal forms, implying a high level of cognitive maturity.
Example: Using the above scenario (A), the child does not have to have any knowledge of concepts such as heat or the mechanical warnings of the stove to learn the lesson. On the contrary, in scenario (B), students must have the proper verbal communication abilities to comprehend the information taught by the teacher. (As children, we tend to learn by way of Discovery while as adults we learn through Reception.)
3 While Reception learning can only take place with outside assistance (teacher), Discovery learning is on a more individual basis.
4 Reception learning is usually a much more effective way of teaching in a classroom setting than Discovery learning.
Example: In scenario (B), it would take an incredible amount of time for the students to learn all of the information concerning Astronomy and our solar system if learned through Discovery.
5 Ausubel believed meaningful reception learning to be the best form of learning in a classroom. In fact, he did very little research concerning
F.H Bell writes in his book that, The main idea of Ausubel is reception instead of discovery. The distinction between reception and discovery is not difficult to understand. In reception learning the principle content of what is to be learned is presented to the learner in more or less final form. The learning doesn't contain any discovery in his part. He is required only to internalized the material or incorporate it in to his cognitive structure so that it is available for reproduction or other use at some future date. The essential future of discovery learning on the other hand is that the principle content of what is to be learned isn't given but must be discover by the learner before he can internalize it. Main principle of that learning is to discover something. But this may not be possible in all situations.
Meaningful vs. Rote learning:
Learning must be meaningful instead of rote memorization. Ausubel focused that learning will be meaningful through verbal exposition rather than problem solving. For example: 2x+4=8 is a given equation. The students of class five are asked to solve it. Then student will do 2x=8-4 or 2x=4 or x=2. Answer is correct but they mayn't know how the value of x becomes 2 and they try to remember that if we carry 4 into right hand side from left hand side of the equation then it will be negative. But reality is not like that. In that process they may not know that equation is equality. Also they may not know if we add equal quantity to both side of the equation then the resulting equation will also be true. So at the very first class of equation, if the teacher explains it clearly through verbal exposition then only student will understand clearly. So as a conclusion in Ausubel's view we can say that problem solving learning is caused of rote learning instead of verbal exposition.
Here also F.H Bell writes that the distinction between rote and meaningful learning is frequently confused with reception and discovery learning. Actually each distinction constitutes an entirely independent dimension of learning. Hence both reception and discovery learning can each be rote or meaningful depending condition under which learning occurs. Ausubel has observed that discovery learning and problem solving teaching techniques are result in rote learning. Just as poor expository teaching can cause student to memorize materials which has no meaning to them. When learning to solve statement problem to algebra, many student memorize problem types and set of rules for solving each types. Good expository teaching is only the best teaching for meaningful learning. The primary idea of Ausubel's theory is that learning of new knowledge is dependent on what is already known. In other words construction of knowledge begins with our observation and recognition of events. Ausubel's meaningful learning is concerned with how student learn large amount of meaningful materials from verbal/textual presentation is a school setting through which the meaningful learning occurs.
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