Discovery-Based Learning to Blame for Students’ Declining Math Skills

Discovery-based techniques make the learning process more complex, report says

Canada's math teachers need to shift their focus away from discovery-based learning and move back toward traditional methods, a new report suggests. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

A new report suggests that Canada’s math teachers need to shift their focus away from discovery-based learning and move back toward traditional methods.

The report from the C.D. Howe Institute says that Canadian students’ math performance in international exams has declined between 2003 and 2012.

The report says that all but two provinces showed statistically significant declines on the exams administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Report author Anna Stokke says teachers should base 80 percent of their math classes on direct learning such as memorizing multiplication tables and practising long division.

She says only 20 percent should come from discovery-based learning techniques, which see students rely more on independent problem-solving and hands-on materials and less on instruction from the teacher.

The report said the preference for direct learning is based on the way the human memory functions.