Lesson Plan: Concept Development And Concept Attainment

1
Lesson Plan Concept Development AndConcept
Attainment
2
Concepts

• Conceptual thinking is learned (Vygotsky, Bruner)
• Concepts are how we structure our reality
  (Piaget, Bruner at al.)
• Cognitive misers (Fiske Taylor)
• Exemplars, archetypes, stereotypes, labels
• Concepts are the building blocks of patterns

3
Concept Development (Hilda Taba)

1. List as many items as possible that are
   associated with the topic (brainstorming)
2. Group items because they are alike in some way
   (attributes)
3. Label the groups by defining reasons for the
   groups
4. Regroup items or groups into other groups
5. Summarize and synthesize data to form
   generalizations (definitions)

4
Concept Attainment

• The teacher may start with the name of the
  concept (this step can be delayed)
• The teacher provides examples and nonexamples of
  the concept
• The teacher may want to explain the conceptual
  attainment process with the students
• Students identify conceptual attributes
  (students also may generate labels if not given
  the name in the first step)
• From the examples and attributes, students
  develop hypotheses about a concept definition or
  rule
• The students then eliminate or refine hypotheses
  that do not account for all of the attributes or
  test examples
• Once a definition or rule has been developed, the
  relationship of the concept to other concepts
  should be discussed (conceptual hierarchy)
• Discuss the process
• With teachers assistance