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Inside Grade Level Lessons
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Inside Intermediate Lessons
[ Teacher's Section ] [ Concept Attainment ] [ Lesson 1 ] [ Lesson 2 ] [ Lesson 3 ] [ Lesson 4 ] [ Lesson 5 ] [ Hero Quest ] [ Lesson 6 ] [ Taba and Strategy ] [ Lesson 7 ] [ Video Tools for Kids ]
 Concept Attainment developed by
Bruner (Bruner, et.al, 1967, p.233).
Concept
attainment was incorporated by
Taba.
How knowledge
is structured is explored in;
Teacher's Handbook to Elementary Social Studies
Outline for: Teaching Strategies and Procedures (Chapter 5)
Introduction
 |
Distinction
between strategy and procedure
| Because it
was developed through research, Hilda Taba's
Inductive Strategy remains relatively stable.
|
| Procedures
are modified to suit style, circumstance,
content and learning activities. |
|
|
By
applying a strategy broadly and making
procedural modifications, there is "likely to be
a marked improvement in the thinking skills of
elementary school students as they study social
topics and apply the knowledge they gain" (p.
64). |
Major Strategies
|
Developing
Concepts
| Aimed at
establishing a firm basis for later
development of well-understood generalizations
| Concepts
are building blocks for generalizations
|
|
| Students
identify a number of concrete items from their
experience.
| A field
trip |
| A story
they have read |
| (Units
they have studied) |
|
| After a
suitably large list is produced, students
group the items that belong together and give
reasons for doing so. |
| Students
then label their groups. |
| Teacher
questioning elicits identifying, grouping, and
labeling responses.
| Questioning
| What
did you see at the fire station?
| Students provide items
|
| Teacher places items on display, writes
names of items on board, paper or
transparency. |
|
| Do any
of these items seem to belong together?
| Students find similarities as a basis
for grouping items. |
| Teacher marks with symbols or underlines
in colored chalk, crayon, etc.
|
|
| Why
would you group these items together?
| Students verbalize common
characteristics of items grouped.
|
| Teacher seeks clarification where
necessary. |
|
| What
would you call these groups you have
formed?
| Students verbalize a label (category)
that is appropriate. |
| Teacher records the labels on paper,
chalk board, etc. |
|
| Could
some of these items belong to more than
one group?
| Students state different relationships
|
| Teacher records or notes.
|
|
| Can
anyone say in one sentence something about
all these groups?
| Students offer suitable summary
sentence. |
| Teacher reminds students to take into
consideration all the groups.
|
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Attaining
Concepts
| Difference
between building concepts and attaining
concepts lies in degree of control:
| Concept
formation (Inductive)
| Concept
labels are the students' own. |
| They
label a group in the most appropriate way
|
|
| Attaining
concepts (Deductive)
| Students are first given a concept word to
say and recognize. |
| Students are then asked to recognize when
examples fit the concept. |
| Attaining concepts can be used in a unit
to clarify word meanings that are
important for continuity of learning.
|
|
|
| Using
concept attainment:
| Make a
chart on the board, on paper or on a
transparency. |
| Ask
students to suggest examples that fit the
category named (Mammal). |
|
|
|
Mammal |
Not a
Mammal |
|
cat |
frog |
|
dog |
snail |
|
whale |
bird |
|
|
|
|
Developing
Generalizations
(Interpretation of Data)
| The end
product of a process:
| Abstraction from a group of items following
such processes as building concepts or
concept attainment. |
| Generalizations are verbalized in the form
of sentences rather than in single words as
in concepts. |
| Higher
level of thinking. |
|
| Generalizations can take two forms:
| Interpretations or conclusions, which are
statements of relationships from given data.
|
| Inferences, which are statements of
relationships that go beyond the given data.
|
|
| Examples of
questions utilized in developing
generalizations:
| What do
you notice about the data? Why did this or
that happen? |
| What do
you think this means? |
| Do you
notice any connections within the records or
across the data? |
| What
makes you think this? |
| What can
you conclude? |
|
|
|
Applying
Principles (Application
of Principles)
| Examples of
questions utilized in applying principles:
| What if?
|
| Why do
you think this or that would happen?
|
| Based on
the data, would these conditions be logical?
|
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Bruner, J., Goodnow, J.
J., & Austin, G. A. (1967). A study of thinking.
New York: Science Editions.
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development;
theory and practice. New York,: Harcourt Brace & World.
Taba, H. (1967). Teacher's handbook for
elementary social studies (Intro. ed.). Palo Alto, Calif.: Addison-Wesley.
Taba, H.,
Durkin, M. C., Fraenkel, J. R., & NcNaughton, A.
H. (1971). A teacher's handbook to elementary
social studies: An inductive approach (2nd ed.).
Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
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