| Sumario: | The article focuses on the use of learning by discovery method in education. Problem-solving or discovery techniques are unnecessary and inappropriate for teaching subject-matter content, except when pupils are in the concrete stage of cognitive development. Thus, for teaching simple, new ideas, either verbal exposition accompanied by concrete-empirical props, or a semiautonomous type of discovery accelerated by the judicious use of prompts and hints, is adequate enough. During the abstract stage of cognitive development, however, the psychological rationale for using discovery methods to teach subject-matter content is highly questionable. To be practical, learning by discovery is unfeasible as a primary means of teaching subject-matter content because of the inordinate time-cost involved. Another disadvantage of using a discovery approach for transmission of subject-matter content is that children are notoriously subjective in their evaluation of external events. Discovery methods are primarily useful for evaluating meaningful learning outcomes and for teaching problem-solving techniques, appreciation of scientific method, and awareness of the sources of knowledge--not for transmitting subject-matter content.
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