Definition
A teaching method in which the instructor leads the student to discover answers, principles, or solutions on their own by asking carefully sequenced questions, rather than telling the student the answer directly. The instructor controls the direction of learning while the student does the thinking.
Plain English
Instead of giving you the answer, the instructor asks the right questions in the right order so you work it out yourself. You still get to the correct conclusion, but you arrive there by thinking, not by being told.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation instructor training, especially when teaching judgment, decision-making, and problem solving during ground lessons or flight lessons.
Derivation
From 'guide' (to lead) and 'discovery' (finding something out for yourself). The name captures the method exactly: the instructor guides, but the student does the discovering.
Why Pilots Care
Produces pilots who understand why procedures exist and can apply them flexibly when situations do not match training examples.
Grounding Statement
In a lesson, the instructor might ask a series of careful questions until the student sees why one course of action is safer than another.
Intuition Check
Guided discovery does not mean leaving the student alone to guess. It means the instructor carefully directs the student’s thinking so the student reaches the understanding personally.
Example Sentence 1
Rather than explaining why the airplane stalled, the instructor used guided discovery, asking the student about angle of attack and airspeed until the student identified the cause.
Example Sentence 2
Using guided discovery, the CFI helped the student realize why a go-around is sometimes safer than continuing a marginal landing.