INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE TEACHING

Inductive teaching (also called discovery or inquiry teaching) is based on the claim that knowledge is built primarily from a learners experiences and interaction with phenomena. An instructor using an inductive approach begins by exposing students to a concrete instance, or instances, of a concept . then learners are encouraged to observe patterns, raise questions, or make generalizations from their observations. The teachers role is to create the opportunities and the context in which students can successfully make the appropriate generalizations, and to guide students as necessary.

Inductive teaching has close ties with the instructional method called the learning cycle, where phenomena are explored before concepts are named. Inquiry-based teaching, in which students are asked to continually develop and test hypotheses in order to generalize a principle, is another member of the inductive family.

Deductive teaching (also called direct instruction) is much less :constructivist and is based on the idea that a highly structured presentation of content creates optimal learning for students. The instructor using a deductive approach typically presents a general concept by first defining it and then providing examples or illustrations that demonstrate the idea. Examples that do not fit the idea are helpful in confirming the idea. Students are given oppurtunities to practice, with instructor guidance and feedback, applying and finding examples of the concept at hand, until they achieve concept mastery.

Richard Felder (1993) characterizes inductive and deductive preferences as a learning style issue. Some students learn best through an inductive approach; some learn best through a deductive approach. Inductive learners like making observations and poring over data looking for patterns so they can infer larger principles. Deductive learners like to have the general principles identified and prefer to deduce the consequences and examples from them. These often the same learners who prefer more structure in general.

Students may draw other meanings from the examples and data provided than what was intended by the instructor. The inductive approach may also take more time and be less efficient than a deductive approach. Some educators have suggested that deductive teaching can be critically important for students with learning disabilities (Brigham and Matins 1999). This method has a clear and readily apparent structure, is easily paced to accommodate student needs, and is very familiar to students. But deductive teaching has trade-offs; it can be to rigid a form that does not allow for divergent student thinking nor emphasize student reasoning and problem solving.

However this pros and cons should not steer an instructor away from using one approach or the other; both are important teaching models.