Concept Attainment
Our 602 Final Project was about Concept Attainment (CA). Our assignment was to "develop {and present to the class} a lesson or staff development situation that features the Concept Attainment model presented in...Attaining Concepts chapter handout from Instructional Patterns (Chapter 14)." This chapter clearly states that there are three phases to CA: presentation of data and identification of the concept, testing attainment of the concept, analysis of thinking strategies (Holt & Kyslka, 2005, p. 314-5).
Other requirements of the assignment were to “Locate and cite at least two references (at least one reference must come from a peer-reviewed journal) to Concept Attainment other than the text... and include a handout that explains the context, briefly describes the lesson or training, and includes a brief synopsis of the references you found on Concept Attainment” (http://etec.hawaii.edu/otec/classes/602/project.htm).
Nan Ketpura-Ching and Brandon Davis were the other members of my group and were wonderful to work with. Our group decided on showing how CA could be used to begin a discussion in 6th-8th Biology classes about the distinction between living things and non-living things. Our group stuck closely to the CA process as we learned it from the Chapter 14 handout: we designed a lesson where we presented the data and identification of the concept, showed how to test attainment of the concept, and analyzed the thinking strategies.
While we were working on our project, Nan kept us organized, came up with the draft of the Yes/No words, and compiled the handout; Brandon wrote the lesson plan (something I could have never done!); I found the two additional articles and wrote the synopses included on the handout; and we all kept each other updated on our progress through email and Google Docs. Everyone was good about reading and commenting on the documents we were working on individually, making suggestions, and completing tasks in a timely manner. We all collaborated about how to present to our ETEC class and decided on role-playing, with me as the 7th grade Biology teacher and Nan and Brandon as students. When we did our presentation to our ETEC 602 class, I introduced the setting by noting that the students were just back from the summer holiday and to ease into the work we would be doing, we were going to play a game. Through the use of two columns, one Yes and one No, the students will reason - not just guess - the concept that is represented by all the Yes words that is not shared by the words in the No column.
We used simple technology to demonstrate that anyone can use CA as a teaching tool. Our words were printed on index cards and were revealed in pairs (one Yes, one No) with discussion after each pair (coral/cave, reproduce/mineral, bacteria/cloud, fungus/moon). When the students figured out the concept of "living things" they were then asked to properly categorize new, random words into the Yes or No column based on whether they thought the item was living or non-living. Then the students were asked to contribute one word of their own for each column. We mentioned some of the characteristics shared by all the living things, and noted that we would be focusing on this topic throughout this semester.
We then showed a video from Teachers Domain that silently depicts 12 items demonstrating both living and non-living, including coral, fire, icicle, and river. We then discussed how some students have difficulty distinguishing whether some things like fire or virus are living or non-living because they have some of the characteristics - movement, reproduction - of living things.
Although our presentation wasn’t as colorful or intricate as the other groups, I think that we demonstrated a strong grasp of both the parameters of the assignment and the theory and application of Concept Attainment.
Feedback
One requirement of this website project is to provide feedback for the works presented. Here are some of the comments our group received for this presentation:
Instructor:
"Interesting role play and engagement - could do with a little more audience interaction and enthusiasm. Very good demonstration of typical 'classical' approach of concept attainment."
Teaching assistants:
"Amy did a nice job with dialogue, enjoyed the comedy. Good examples. More attention to audience would have helped your overall score. Great job with the presentation introduction. The role play presentation was simple but focused. I suggest using color/images next time to liven it up."
Classmates:
"Good use of examples and non examples, the concept was very clear. The role play was good but not very engaging for the audience."
"Nice demonstration of concept attainment in a traditional classroom setting. All phases of concept attainment were covered in the presentation. Would have been more engaging if different types of mediums were used and involved the class."
"Integrating the class would have been much more engaging. Some of the topics were confusing as to where they really belong to. Somewhat monotonous in content. Great speaking skills and presenting."
I would like to point out that it was not a requirement or suggestion of the assignment to include the rest of the class as participants in the presentation.
AECT Standards
1.1 Instructional Systems Design (ISD)
1.1.1 Analyzing: process of defining what is to be learned and the context in which it is to be learned.
1.1.2 Designing: process of specifying how it is to be learned.
1.1.3 Developing: process of authoring and producing the instructional materials.
1.1.4 Implementing: actually using the materials and strategies in context.
1.4 Learner Characteristics
2.1 Print Technologies
4.1 Project Management
4.2 Resource Management
4.3 Delivery System Management
4.4 Information Management
Holt, L. C. & Kysilka, M. (2005). Instructional patterns: strategies for maximizing student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Other requirements of the assignment were to “Locate and cite at least two references (at least one reference must come from a peer-reviewed journal) to Concept Attainment other than the text... and include a handout that explains the context, briefly describes the lesson or training, and includes a brief synopsis of the references you found on Concept Attainment” (http://etec.hawaii.edu/otec/classes/602/project.htm).
Nan Ketpura-Ching and Brandon Davis were the other members of my group and were wonderful to work with. Our group decided on showing how CA could be used to begin a discussion in 6th-8th Biology classes about the distinction between living things and non-living things. Our group stuck closely to the CA process as we learned it from the Chapter 14 handout: we designed a lesson where we presented the data and identification of the concept, showed how to test attainment of the concept, and analyzed the thinking strategies.
While we were working on our project, Nan kept us organized, came up with the draft of the Yes/No words, and compiled the handout; Brandon wrote the lesson plan (something I could have never done!); I found the two additional articles and wrote the synopses included on the handout; and we all kept each other updated on our progress through email and Google Docs. Everyone was good about reading and commenting on the documents we were working on individually, making suggestions, and completing tasks in a timely manner. We all collaborated about how to present to our ETEC class and decided on role-playing, with me as the 7th grade Biology teacher and Nan and Brandon as students. When we did our presentation to our ETEC 602 class, I introduced the setting by noting that the students were just back from the summer holiday and to ease into the work we would be doing, we were going to play a game. Through the use of two columns, one Yes and one No, the students will reason - not just guess - the concept that is represented by all the Yes words that is not shared by the words in the No column.
We used simple technology to demonstrate that anyone can use CA as a teaching tool. Our words were printed on index cards and were revealed in pairs (one Yes, one No) with discussion after each pair (coral/cave, reproduce/mineral, bacteria/cloud, fungus/moon). When the students figured out the concept of "living things" they were then asked to properly categorize new, random words into the Yes or No column based on whether they thought the item was living or non-living. Then the students were asked to contribute one word of their own for each column. We mentioned some of the characteristics shared by all the living things, and noted that we would be focusing on this topic throughout this semester.
We then showed a video from Teachers Domain that silently depicts 12 items demonstrating both living and non-living, including coral, fire, icicle, and river. We then discussed how some students have difficulty distinguishing whether some things like fire or virus are living or non-living because they have some of the characteristics - movement, reproduction - of living things.
Although our presentation wasn’t as colorful or intricate as the other groups, I think that we demonstrated a strong grasp of both the parameters of the assignment and the theory and application of Concept Attainment.
Feedback
One requirement of this website project is to provide feedback for the works presented. Here are some of the comments our group received for this presentation:
Instructor:
"Interesting role play and engagement - could do with a little more audience interaction and enthusiasm. Very good demonstration of typical 'classical' approach of concept attainment."
Teaching assistants:
"Amy did a nice job with dialogue, enjoyed the comedy. Good examples. More attention to audience would have helped your overall score. Great job with the presentation introduction. The role play presentation was simple but focused. I suggest using color/images next time to liven it up."
Classmates:
"Good use of examples and non examples, the concept was very clear. The role play was good but not very engaging for the audience."
"Nice demonstration of concept attainment in a traditional classroom setting. All phases of concept attainment were covered in the presentation. Would have been more engaging if different types of mediums were used and involved the class."
"Integrating the class would have been much more engaging. Some of the topics were confusing as to where they really belong to. Somewhat monotonous in content. Great speaking skills and presenting."
I would like to point out that it was not a requirement or suggestion of the assignment to include the rest of the class as participants in the presentation.
AECT Standards
1.1 Instructional Systems Design (ISD)
1.1.1 Analyzing: process of defining what is to be learned and the context in which it is to be learned.
1.1.2 Designing: process of specifying how it is to be learned.
1.1.3 Developing: process of authoring and producing the instructional materials.
1.1.4 Implementing: actually using the materials and strategies in context.
1.4 Learner Characteristics
2.1 Print Technologies
4.1 Project Management
4.2 Resource Management
4.3 Delivery System Management
4.4 Information Management
Holt, L. C. & Kysilka, M. (2005). Instructional patterns: strategies for maximizing student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.