Divergent Discovery Style-H

Develops the emotional confidence and cognitive capacity to produce multiple solutions, to the same question or to a series of unfamiliar situations, that seek to expand the parameters of the content beyond the known and expected.

Summary

The defining characteristic of the Divergent Discovery Style is the engagement in the discovery of new content by producing multiple responses to an unfamiliar specific problem, question, or situation. Each learner experiences the emotional and cognitive process of going beyond known information. The teacher encourages the production of responses not any single solution.

The Anatomy

In the Divergent Discovery Style, the role of the teacher (T) is to only make decisions about the specific subject matter problem, question or situation not the specific responses. The teacher then offers neutral feedback about the multiple responses. The role of the learner (L) is to produce multiple discovered solutions/responses to a specific problem or question and to engage in self-assessment of the responses.

*The arrow represents the decision shift from the Convergent Discovery Style-G to the Divergent Discovery Style-H.

Subject Matter Objectives

When the Divergent Discovery Style is achieved, the following subject matter objectives are emphasized:

To discover and produce multiple responses or solutions to a question or problem
To experience divergent production in specific cognitive operations
To view some aspects within content as developing and evolving, rather than static
To develop the ability to verify solutions and organize them for specific purposes
Others

Behavior Objectives

When the Divergent Discovery Style is achieved, the following behavioral objectives are emphasized:

To engage in divergent discovery-the production of multiple responses that can satisfy a stimulus
To activate divergent thinking in the cognitive operations designated by the stimulus
To become sufficiently emotionally, cognitively, and socially secure to move beyond memory to risk producing alternative ideas
To accept that an individual can approach problems or issues in different ways
To tolerate others' ideas
To feel the emotional and cognitive energy that the production of ideas can generate
When appropriate, to engage in the Reduction Process (the Possible-Feasible-Desirable process to examine solutions)
Others