a. The simple past tense used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended in the past e.g. yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 1990.
Example: 1 Mary walked downtown yesterday.
2 I slept well last night. b. To express the duration of an event completed in the past.
Example: 1 I lived in Jakarta for ten years. But I does not live there now
2 Shinta was in Paris for two years. Shinta is in Jakarta now c. To express the habitual action in the past.
Example: 1 They always helped us when we were in difficulty.
2 Miss Widi always gave me a present when I went To her house.
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B. DISCOVERY LEARNING
1. The Definition of Discovery Learning
Discovery or Inquiry learning is the instructional alternative many educators tout as the choice for teaching social studies, science, and mathematics.
It falls within the cognitive school of thought under meaningful learning.
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It means that discovery learning is one of the instructional strategies in teaching
process which is particularly appropriate for achieving important objectives in social, science and mathematics. It tends to use cognitive psychology as base that
makes students more remember concepts they discover on their own. It tends to use cognitive psychology as base in applying the teaching process, because
students are asked to find out or figure out something for themselves.
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Inquiry teaching involves providing students with content-related problems which serve
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Betty S. Azar, Fundamental of English Grammar, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 2003, Third Edition, p. 26.
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Donald R. Cruickshank, et al. The Act of Teaching, New York: McGraw Hill Companies, 2006, p. 248.
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Donald R. Cruickshank, et al. The Act of Teaching … p. 248.
as the focus for the class’s research activities. In working with a problem, students formulate hypotheses or tentative solutions to the problem, gather data relevant to
these hypotheses, and then evaluate this data and come from to a conclusion. In working with this strategy, students learn not only content associated with the
problem but also how to go about solving problem in the future.
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In addition, Discovery Learning, developed by Harvard Psychologist Jerome Bruner, was one of the primary teaching models associated with post-
Sputnik reform efforts, who stated that, discovery learning emphasized the importance of the inquiry processes through which students discover key ideas
rather than memorize long lists of factual information. Bruner believed teaching students to think was the ultimate goal of education and that actively involving
student in the learning process accomplished that.
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Referring to the interpretation above, the writer can conclude that the definition of discovery learning from one expert to another expert are vary, but the
meaning leads to the same perspectives. So according to the writer, discovery learning is an inquiry-based learning, constructivist learning theory that conduct in
problem solving situations where the learner draws on his or her own past experience and existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new
truths to be learned.
2. The Purposes of Discovery Learning