STRATEGIES FOR INSTRUCTION TO LEADING TO CONCEPT LEARNING

Concept Learning is the ability to apply knowledge across a variety of circumstances. There are two types of concepts involved in concept learning: concrete and abstract. Concrete concepts can be grasped through the five senses. Abstract concepts are ideas so they have no physical characteristics. Concept learning is often confused with declarative knowledge so it is important to know exactly what a concept is. The following are three attributes of a concept:

Intrinsic Attribute: An unchanging characteristic of an object.

Functional Attribute: How an object works and what it can be used for.

Relational Attribute: A characteristic of an object that might be found in another object.

Concept Learning requires two cognitive processes: generalization and discrimination. Students have to be able to see that certain objects are similar to one another and certain objects are different. Then they have to be able to see the distinctive features of an object.

Conditions that promote concept learning are ones that help promote generalization and discrimination but there are other important techniques that need to be employed during the four parts of a lesson.

There are two strategies of concept instruction:

Inquiry strategy: This strategy is often referred to as the discovery approach. During this strategy students are presented with examples and nonexamples of a concept and then they have to discover the concept.

Expository approach: This strategy presents the concept, its label, and characteristics of the concept during the lesson sequence. Like the Inquiry Strategy the student is also given examples and nonexamples but these are also accompanied with a discussion of which is the best example and how it meets the characteristics of the concept.

Here are some techniques that can be used during the four lesson areas when employing one of these strategies.

1. Introduction

Attention can be gained by using bold faced typed, interesting stories or pictures dealing with the concept, or a set of examples and non examples.
Instructional purpose is either generated by the learners or provided by the instructor depending on whether the your are using the inquiry or expository approach.
Expository lessons are previewed by having an explanation of what is going to be learned and how the lesson is going to proceed. Inquiry lessons preview the lesson by presenting the task they are going to have to accomplish.

2. Body

Prior knowledge can be activated through information questioning, a formal pretest, a formal review of the prequisite concepts, or an integrated review of prequisite concepts.
Students process information through the examples provide. The best example of a concept should have all the necessary attributes of a concept.
Attention needs to be focused on the attributes of a concept. This can be done with a description of definition of the attributes. Visual cues to the attributes are also helpful in focusing the attention.
Practice should be done by exposing students to new examples and nonexamples and having them distinguish between the two. Students should be able to isolate attributes of the concept and explain their answers.
Feedback should include an explanation of why an object is an example or non example of a concept.
Besides using examples and isolating attributes, other learning strategies that can be employed are concept trees, analogies, mnemonics, and imagery.

3. Conclusion

To summarize the lesson the definition of the concept should be restated.
To ensure transfer learners should locate examples of the concept in everyday context. They should also be encouraged to use the concept label in conversation.
To remotivate and close the lesson show how the concept can be applied to everyday life and show how it will be useful to future learning.

4. Assessment

Assessment of a concept may involve something that is or is not an example of a concept, categorizing objects as examples and nonexamples of a concept or producing their own examples of a concept.
Feedback should tell learners whether or not they have mastered the goal.

To show an example of how a concept strategy might be used. I have provided a lesson with a concept learning objective.

Objectives:
Given a group of animals students will be able to identify those that are mammals.

1. Introduction

To gain student attention and arouse interest use pictures of five different mammals and tell them that all these animals are mammals.
To establish the instructional purpose and preview the lesson tell the students that they are going to be studying mammals and they will learn to recognize examples of mammals. Then tell them that their first task will be to identify the traits of mammals.

2. Body

To process the information ask the students questions about the animals found in the pictures. Ask them questions like how do they give birth, how do they move, and how they keep warm. Then help them generate a list of common characteristics and entitle it mammal traits.
To recall prior knowledge go through the list of traits with the students and identify animals that they have studied that are not mammals but possess that trait.
To refocus attention highlight the traits that are unique to mammals. Explain that animals are mammals if they nurse their babies with milk from mammary glands and have hair even if it is just a little also point out that these are not required characteristics but most mammals have live young, are warm blooded, have different types of teeth, and four limbs.

3. Conclusion

To summarize and close the lesson show students some more pictures and have them pick out the ones that are mammals. Then tell them that they are now able to distinguish mammals from other animals.

4. Assessment

To assess the students knowledge of the material have the students complete a worksheet with animal pictures on it. Have the students tell if the animal is a mammal or if it isn't a mammal and explain why or why it isn't a mammal.
Evaluate the worksheet to make sure they have correctly identified the animals as examples or nonexamples of mammals.