ABSTRACT
On the one hand teaching is an art, informed by our experiences and personality. On the other hand it is a science, and we can identify effective strategies for teaching nearly anything. Cognitive theories dominate most classroom teaching. Its principles influence the basic procedure used to teach everything from how to tie shoelaces to the meaning of the Declaration of Independence; from changing oil in a car to forming a proper embouchure. Discovery learning is an inquiry-based method of learning famously advocated in the 1960s by the learning theorist and cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner. Partly based on Bruner’s work, concept learning (or concept attainment) focuses on categorizing and organizing information rather than simply memorizing it. Conceptual understanding includes facts and skills, but must move beyond them. Similarly, an assessment of conceptual knowledge can include a performance, but must move beyond the sole ability to play a passage correctly.
