Conventional Lecture Versus Discovery Training Methods in The Preparation of Immigrant Bus Conductors

Mixed groups of immigrant and non-immigrant trainee bus conductors were given training in the detection of hazards in traffic situations, using two different methods of instruction: a conventional lecture method and a discovery training method. On a test subsequent to training it was found that immigrants' performance approached that of non-immigrants when the test items were of the same level of difficulty as in training, but were significantly worse when the test items were more difficult. Immigrants performed better after training by the conventional method than after discovery training, except when the test items were difficult when the two methods gave similar results. The non-immigrants always did better after discovery training.