Concept Attainment

Concept attainment is based on the work of Jerome Bruner and is the process of defining
concepts by determining the characteristics that are absolutely essential to the meaning of
the concept and disregarding those that are not. It is also concerned with learning what is
and what is not an example of the concept. Only use when teaching a concept in a
process-oriented manner. To qualify as a concept, an item has to have a name, examples,
attributes, and attribute value (some things are essential for meaning and some are not).

A concept has 4 elements:

1. a name
2. examples
3. attributes
4. attribute value (some are essential and some are non-essential)

There are three stages to planning a concept attainment lesson. First, select a concept that
meets the criteria given above. Next, select the characteristics, or examples, that define
the concept. Last, develop positive and negative examples of the concept and arrange
them in a sequence to be used in presentation. The examples may be actual objects,
pictures of the concept, or words that illustrate the concept.

To present a concept attainment lesson, the teacher must take the learners through four
phases. During phase one, the teacher explains the goal of the activity and the methods to
be used to determine the concept. Positive (Yes) and negative (No) examples are then
presented, always beginning with a positive example. During phase two, students are
asked to give other positive examples of the concept and to try to develop a concept rule
or definition for the concept. Only when this has been successfully completed is the name
of the concept given. For phase three, the students are asked to analyze the thinking
process they used in determining the concept rule. Questions that might be asked are:

1. What was your pattern in developing the concept rule?

2. Did you focus on the attributes or the concepts?
3. What happened when your thinking did not prove to be correct?
4. Did you change strategies, and how effective were your different strategies?

The final phase of the presentation is an evaluation of the activity. It can be deemed
successful when students can identify additional examples of the concept, identify
essential attributes of the concept, determine a concept rule, and relate the concept to
other valid concepts.

Use pictures, words, and/or actual objects to present the concept attainment strategy.
Sequence the items in the order provided. Always start with a “yes” example. Follow
with a “no” example. The additional examples should be given in random order. Do
avoid giving too many “no” examples at one time. They are given to help clarify what the
“yes” examples have in common.
Primary Examples:

Mammals
Procedure:

1. Give the examples in the order listed.

2. During the strategy, ask for additional “yes” examples to verify that students are
getting the concept.
3. Provide a “twist” to promote higher-level thinking. (Students are lead to think a
concept until an example stumps them and causes them to regroup.)
4. Once most students seem to have the concept, ask for critical attributes that
describe the concept.
5. List these critical attributes on the board.
6. Look at the critical attributes and have students derive a rule or a name for the
concept.
7. Have students discuss their thinking processes throughout the strategy.

Examples:
Yes No
1. Tiger 2. Fish
3. Albino Tiger 4. Lobster
6. Leopard 5. Frog
7. Zebra 8. Shark
9. Giraffe 11. Turtle
10. Rhino 12. Flamingo
13. Whale (twist) 14. Pelican
15. Dog 16. Lizard
17. Bat 18. Lady Bug
18. Otter
19. Kangaroo
All of the “yes” examples represent mammals. The concept rule is that the animals are
mammals. Their critical attributes include warm blooded, hair, mammary glands, lungs,
and 4 chambered heart. They live on land and water.

Animals with Tails

Procedure:

1. Give the examples in the order listed.

2. During the strategy, ask for additional “yes” examples to verify that students
are getting the concept.
3. Provide a “twist” to promote higher-level thinking. (Students are lead to think
a concept until an example stumps them and causes them to regroup.)
4. Once most students seem to have the concept, ask for critical attributes that
describe the concept.
5. List these critical attributes on the board.
 6. Look at the critical attributes and have students derive a rule or a name for the
concept.
7. Have students discuss their thinking processes throughout the strategy.
Examples: (Beanie Babies)

Yes No
Fish
Ladybug
Dolphin
Bat
Whale
Lobster
Octopus

Monkey
Pelican
Crab
Elephant
Lizard
Squirrel
Frog
Human

A Math example:

• First the teacher chooses a concept to developed. (i.e. Math facts that equal 10)
• Begin by making list of both positive "yes" and negative " no" examples: The
examples are put onto sheets of paper or flash cards.
• Positive Examples: (Positive examples contain attributes of the concept to be
taught) i.e. 5+5, 11-1, 10X1, 3+4+4, 12-2, 15-5, (4X2)+2, 9+1
• Negative Examples: (for examples choose facts that do not have 10 as the answer)
i.e. 6+6, 3+3, 12-4, 3X3, 4X4, 16-5, 6X2, 3+4+6, 2+(2X3), 16-10
• Designate one area of the chalkboard for the positive examples and one area for
negative examples. A chart could be set up at the front of the room with two
columns - one marked YES and the other marked NO.
• Present the first card by saying, "This is a YES." Place it under the appropriate
column. i.e. 5+5 is a YES
• Present the next card and say, "This is a NO." Place it under the NO column. i.e.
6+6 is a NO
• Repeat this process until there are three examples under each column.
• Ask the class to look at the three examples under the YES column and discuss
how they are alike. (i.e. 5+5, 11-1, 2X5) Ask "What do they have in common?"
• For the next tree examples under each column, ask the students to decide if the
examples go under YES or NO.
 • identified the concept but it is important that they not tell it out loud to the class.
They can however show that they have caught on by giving an example of their
own for each column. At this point, the examples are student-generated. Ask the
class if anyone else has the concept in mind. Students who have not yet defined
the concept are still busy trying to see the similarities of the YES examples. Place
at least three more examples under each column that are student-generated.
• Discuss the process with the class. Once most students have caught on, they can
define the concept. Once they have pointed out that everything under the YES
column has an answer of 10, then print a new heading at the top of the column (10
Facts). The print a new heading for the NO column (Not 10 Facts). At this point,
there are 6 examples under each column. Several students will have

Intermediate Lesson Plan

Suggested Grade Level: 6-8

Metaphors

Goal: To promote and develop: a) understanding of the concept "metaphor;" b)

understanding of critical thinking processes; and c) practice analyzing and labeling
concepts.

Objectives: Given data describing situations, students will be able to:

A. Differentiate between examples and non-examples.
B. Identify essential and non-essential attributes of a concept.
C. Generate and analyze hypotheses about a concept.
D. Label and evaluate a concept.

Concept Analysis:
Definition: A METAPHOR is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase compares
two unlike objects or ideas.
Attributes:

1. Comparison between two objects or ideas.

2. Objects or ideas not usually related or considered alike.
3. Typically states that an object or idea "is" another.
Examples: Phrases, sentences, and paragraphs containing metaphors as figures of
speech. (DATA ATTACHED; in sequence of presentation)
Non-examples: Phrases, sentences, and paragraphs containing similes (using "like,"
"as," or "as if") as figures of speech. (DATA ATTACHED; in sequence of presentation)
Superordinate Concept: Figures of speech
Subordinate Concept: Comparison between two unlike objects or ideas.
Coordinate Concept: Similes are figures of speech which compare two unlike objects or
ideas using "like," "as," or "as if."

Materials: Overheads and hand-outs of phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that include
both examples and non-examples of metaphors.
Book Johnny Tremain

Data Sets:

Example #1:

I like to watch sports on television. My favorite sport is figure skating. Figure skating is
ballet on ice.

Non-Example #1:

I like to watch sports on television. My favorite sports are basketball and football.
Members of a team are like a family.

Example #2:

My friends and I go to the zoo. Some of the animals live in cages, and some live in
surroundings with trees, rocks, and ponds. Cages are prisons.

Non-Example #2:

My friends and I go to the zoo. Some of the animals live in cages, and some live in
surroundings with trees, rocks, and ponds. Those surroundings are like natural habitats.

Example#3:

At the party, we listened to my friends' CDs. Music is an escape for the mind. We
listened for hours.

Non-Example #3:

At the party, we listened to my friends' CDs. Some of the songs sounded like laughter.
We laughed as we listened.

Procedures:

Introduction:
1. The teacher will explain to the students that they will be presented with phrases,
sentences, and paragraphs (on the overhead and as hand-outs). The first sets of data will
be labeled in advance by the teacher as examples or non-examples of a concept the
teacher has in mind.
2. Students will be asked to provide characteristics or attributes of each of the data sets.
3. As subsequent data sets are presented, students will be asked to offer explanations as
to why certain attributes apply to the examples and not to the non-examples.
4. As subsequent data sets are presented, students will be asked to suggest hypotheses
as to what concept the examples suggest.
5. Practice set of data presented to define "examples" of a concept (fruit) and "non-
examples" (vegetables), and to identify the superordinate concept (food).

I. Presenting Data
1. Overheads will present three (3) data sets, each with an example and a non-example
(labeled by the teacher).
2. The students will be asked to suggest characteristics or attributes of the initial data
set.
3. The teacher will write on the chalkboard attributes the students suggest, using their
own words. The teacher will ask the students to indicate whether the attribute applies
only to the example, only to the non-example, or is common to both, and list them on the
board in that manner.
4. The teacher will then explain that for the remainder of the data sets, the students
should be looking for those attributes which seem to apply only to the examples and that
differentiate the examples from the non-examples.
5. Two more labeled data sets will be presented on the overhead.

II. Analysis of Hypotheses

1. Students will be grouped in partners.
2. Partner groups will be asked to offer hypotheses as to what concept the list of
characteristics on the board identify.
3. Partner groups will be presented with hand-outs of additional "test" data, not labeled
as examples or non-examples.
4. Partner groups will be asked to label the data as examples or non-examples.
5. Groups will be called on to identify the data, and to offer explanations justifying their
choices.
6. List of critical attributes of the concept and hypotheses will be revised based on
responses to new information.

III. Closure
1. Consensus will be reached on list of critical attributes and hypotheses.
2. Teacher will ask for the name and a definition of the concept.
3. A concept hierarchy will be constructed which identifies and defines the
superordinate, subordinate, and coordinate concepts.

IV. Application
1. Student partner groups will generate their own data set of one metaphor and one
simile that they can find in the book, Johnny Tremain. Partners may choose to find both
together, or one partner may find a metaphor and the other a simile.
2. Students will present their new data to the class, and identify the characteristics that
support the definition. New data will be turned in to teacher.
3. Students will review their thinking process in generating attributes and hypotheses.
a. What information caused them to reconsider their initial explanations?
b. How many additional data sets needed to be presented before the final hypothesis
was formed?
c. What part of the exercise was confusing or frustrating?

How can I adapt it?

This activity can be done on the chalkboard, chart paper or overhead projector to a large
or small group. It also works well as one-on-one work. Rather than starting with the
teacher's concept, use a student's concept. Concept attainment can be used to introduce or
conclude a unit of study.

Assessment and Evaluation Considerations

Have the students:

• write the definition from memory.

• determine positive and negative examples from a given group.
• create their own examples of the concept.
• "think aloud"
• write a learning log
• do an oral presentation
• create a web, concept map, flow chart, illustrations, KWL chart, T chart