In recent years we have read and heard a great deal about what is known as the discovery method in education. This term refers to the approach that is being applied, often quite successfully, in teaching many subjects, including physics, chemistry, and mathematics, so that students are helped to discover certain basic relationships for themselves instead of having them explained or demonstrated to them in a dogmatic fashion by their teachers.
The unique advantage of this method lies in the fresh insight each student gains and the power this has to facilitate learning. Repeating the experimental steps that led to the development of the formula for the attractive force between bodies of varying masses, using different number bases to learn for himself the significance of the positions of numerals in our number system —these and many other personal investigations enable the student in some measure to share with the original discoverer the joy and the wonder he felt when first he glimpsed the marvelous order of the universe, which his insight partially revealed.
Obviously, no mere repetition of their original work could ever diminish in the slightest the credit due such outstanding discoverers as Kepler, Newton, and Einstein, whose achievements in breaking new ground in the field of the physical sciences gave them a unique place for all time. Nevertheless, only as each one who seeks to understand and build upon the results of the efforts of others is able to experience in some degree the discoverer's original inspiration can he truly appreciate the tremendous dedication and deep insight that were required to perceive certain fundamental relationships.
