Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Five:
Instruction That Works:
Concept Development
Presented by: Lorna Manuel, Patty Garrison, & Doreen Fuller
Moderated by: Nancy Silva, CTAP Region 2 - BCOE
Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS), Region 2
Webinar Pods
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Webinar Pods
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the file to i.e. “Desktop”.
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Meeting Procedures
• Different meeting rooms…
with different views
• Use the Chat Room to ask
questions as they arise.
• Actively participate by
sharing comments and
feedback
This workshop will be recorded
and archived. So……
Don’t Forget to Smile
When You Chat….
;)
Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Five:
Instruction That Works:
Concept Development
Presented by: Lorna Manuel, Patty Garrison, & Doreen Fuller
Moderated by: Nancy Silva, CTAP Region 2 - BCOE
Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS), Region 2
Webinar Learning Objectives
After the webinar, participants will:
 Be able to identify the steps in developing a concept.
 Be provided samples of concept development in ELA,
Math and Science following the steps and using a
variety of strategies to help students interact with
concepts.
 Be introduced to concept maps for use in lesson concept
development.
DI – Lesson Design Components
 Learning
Objective
 Activate Prior Knowledge
 Concept Development
 Lesson Importance
 Skill Development
 Guided Practice
 Lesson Closure
 Independent Practice
A Concept is…
…a set of objects or events that share common characteristics and
a common name.
Concept should include:
 Definition/rule
 Examples
 Non-examples (if possible)
“If the material is a new concept, it is important that the
teacher discuss the characteristics (or attributes) of the
concept, the rule or definition, and several examples.” Models
of Teaching, p. 319
(Clark, 1999)
10
Not all terms and ideas…
“… students need to learn are equal. Some ideas rise to
the level of central concepts that serve as bedrocks for
future teaching and learning. When students have only a
hazy understanding of key concepts like culture or
civilization in social studies, polynomials in pre-algebra, or
even alive in primary-grade science, much of their future
learning, which rests on key concepts like these, will be
hampered by that initial lack of definitional clarity.”
- Silver, Strong, & Perini (2007), The Strategic Teacher
Concept Attainment
“Learning a concept involves more than just learning a
label; it involves learning the essential attributes of a
concept. To learn the essential attributes of a concept,
students must be able to discriminate between
examples and nonexamples.”

Silver, Strong, & Perini (2007), The Strategic Teacher
 During concept development, you explicitly teach your
students the concepts contained in the Learning Objective.
 During
concept development, you explicitly
teach your students the concepts contained
in the Learning Objective.
 Example:
Learning Objective – Students will calculate
the average speed of a moving object.
Concept: average speed
Why is Concept Development
Important?
…so students can generalize to new situations
in school and real life.
… so students can internalize the
generalization as opposed to learning
individual instances.
… so students will do well on annual state tests.
Why is Concept Development
Important?
The Benefits
 Focus
is on deep understanding of a concept
 High learner motivation and involvement
 Can be adapted for simple to very sophisticated
concepts
 Encourages clarification of concepts;
similarities and differences between concepts
What are the Limitations?
 May be too challenging for convergent
thinkers
 Takes more time to prepare this type of lesson
– particularly identifying good examples and
non-examples of the concept
Steps in Developing a Concept
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify the concept in the learning objective.
Provide a written bulletproof definition or rule
that contains the concept’s critical attributes
(characteristics).
Provide examples and nonexamples that clarify
the concept by revealing critical, noncritical,
and share attributes.
Teach the concept by explaining, modeling,
and demonstrating.
Have students interact with the concept.
Provide CFU questions of the concept.
English Language Arts:
An Example
of
Concept Development
Identify the Concept in the
Learning Objective
Content Standard (8WC1.2) Sentence Structure:
Identify and use parallelism, including similar
grammatical forms, in all written discourse to present
items in a series and items juxtaposed for emphasis.
Learning Objective: Students will use parallelism,
including similar grammatical forms, in all written
discourse to present items in a series
Concept: Parallelism
Provide a written bulletproof definition or rule that
contains the concept’s critical attributes
(characteristics).
Parallelism refers to parallel structures in
sentences that use the same pattern of words to
show that two or more ideas have the same level of
importance and are balanced.
A noun is listed with other nouns, an -ing ending
with another –ing ending, etc.
From the Greek…beside one another
Related Topics
Coordinating Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions
Category
Sentence
Writing
Essential Attributes
Comparative and contrasting
expressions
Same pattern of words
PARALLELISM
Same level of importance
Words are balanced
Nouns balanced with nouns
Balanced verb tenses
Pair prepositional phrases
Provide examples and nonexamples that clarify the concept by
revealing critical, noncritical, and shared attributes.
Nonexample: I enjoy tennis more than playing basketball
or soccer.
 Example: I enjoy tennis more than basketball or soccer.

Critical Attributes: Balance, same pattern, importance
Nouns need to be balanced with nouns. “Tennis” is a noun, but
“playing basketball” is a phrase.
Noncritical Attribute: order of words
Category
Related Topics
Coordinating Conjunctions
Correlative Conjunctions
Sentence
Writing
Essential Attributes
Comparative and contrasting
expressions
Same pattern of words
PARALLELISM
Examples
Air travel is safe, fast,
and convenient.
Yesterday I worked,
studied, and read a book.
Nonexamples
Air travel is safe, fast,
and it is convenient.
Yesterday I worked, studied,
and was reading book.
Same level of importance
Words are balanced
Nouns balanced with nouns
Balanced verb tenses
Pair prepositional phrases
Teach the concept by explaining, modeling, and
demonstrating

Example-1:
Teacher Models Thinking
• Swimming, seeing movies and to go for walk are my hobbies.
In this sentence also the first two hobbies (swimming and seeing movies) have
been given in single words while third hobby (to go for walk) has been mentioned
in an infinite form. This sentence lacks the parallelism.
The correct sentence is:
• Swimming, seeing movies and walking are my hobbies.

Example 2:

Next month we can go to the movies or riding motorcycles in
the mountains.
The prepositional phrase "to the movies" is not parallel with the verb
"riding.“
The corrected sentence looks like this: "Next month we can go to the
movies or to the mountains to ride motorcycles."
Have students interact with the concept

Connect information to what students are familiar with
and what they are going to be taught.

Do not use new vocabulary in making these
connections
Have students interact with the concept
 Directions:
- Read the story excerpt that follows.
- Respond to the questions: What makes the phrase
in red examples of parallelism?
“RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI” EXCERPT
“Don’t be frightened, Teddy, “said his father. “That’s his way of
making friends.”
“Ouch! He’s tickling under my chin,” said Teddy.
Rikki-tikki looked down between the boy’s collar and neck,
snuffed at his ear, and climbed down to the floor, where he sat
rubbing his nose.
“Good gracious,” said Teddy’s mother, “and that’s a wild creature!
I suppose he’s so tame because we’ve been kind to him.”
“All mongooses are like that,” said her husband, “If Teddy doesn’t
pick him up by the tail or try to put him in a cage, he’ll run in and out
of the house all day long. Let’s give him something to eat.”
They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it
immensely, and when it was finished, he went out into the
veranda and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make
it dry to the roots. The he felt better.
Task #1: Pick a a card and read it. Then tell group members
why it is an example of parallelism.
“He came home the same way,
the front door slamming open,
his cap on the floor, and the
voice suddenly became raucous
shouting, “Isn’t anybody
here?”
At lunch he spoke insolently to
his father, spilled his baby
sister’s milk, and remarked
that his teacher said we were
not to take the name of the
Lord in vain.
 He climbed down from his
chair and squatted down and
touched his toes.
 Charles yelled during story
hour and hit a boy in the
stomach and made him cry.
Task #2: With your group, find
other examples where the
author uses parallelism.
Adapted from materials from Kathy Glass
www.kathyglassconsulting.com
CLOZE PROCEDURE
 He
was permitted ___________ a musical
instrument, to read books, and to write letters.
 Those who watched him said that during the whole
of that year he was only eating, drinking, and
________.
 It was agreed that during the period he would be
deprives of the right to cross the threshold, to see
living people, to _________human voices, and to
_______letters and newspaper.
Excerpts from “The Bet” by Anton Chehkov
Adapted from materials from Kathy Glass
www.kathyglassconsulting.com
Mathematics:
An Example
of
Concept Development
Identify the Concept in the
Learning Objective
Kindergarten Math Content Standard (NS2.1):
Identify and describe common geometrical objects (e.g.
circle, triangle, square, rectangle, cube, sphere, cone)
Learning Objective: Students will identify and sort
pictorial representations of circles and squares.
Concept: Circle and Square are
two basic and different shapes
Provide a written bulletproof definition or rule that
contains the concept’s critical attributes
(characteristics).
A circle is a curved line that forms a closed loop. If you
put a dot in the exact center of the circle, all the points on
the curved line are the same distance (equidistant) from
the center.
A square is a rectangle with four connected straight lines
forming a closed object. The four sides are the same
length. The corners are all equal (90 degrees or
perpendicular).
Provide examples and nonexamples that clarify the concept
by revealing critical, noncritical, and share attributes

Nonexample: A rhombus and a rectangle are not squares.

Example: A square has four equal sides and equal corners.
Critical Attributes:
• Four equal corners (perpendicular/90 degrees)
• Four equal sides
• Closed object
Noncritical Attribute:
• Size of the shape
Provide examples and nonexamples that clarify the concept
by revealing critical, noncritical, and shared attributes.
Nonexample: An ellipse is not a circle.
 Example: All the points on a circle are the same distance
from the center.

Critical Attributes:
• Curved line
• All points equally distant from middle.
• Closed loop
Noncritical Attribute:
• Size of the shape
Teach the concept by explaining, modeling, and
demonstrating

Example: Teacher Models Thinking
Using the SMART board, project multiple images of varying sizes
of rectangles, rhombuses, squares, parallelograms, and diamonds.
With the students, demonstrate and discuss the critical attributes of
the shape and why it is or isn’t a square.
Have students interact with the concept
Connect information to what students are familiar
with and what they are going to be taught.
 Do not use new vocabulary in making these
connections

Have students interact with the concept
 Read
the picture book, The Village of Round and
Square Houses.
 Give each student sheets of pictures of everyday
common objects. Have the students cut out the
shapes that are circles and squares, then have them
tape or glue them to a larger circle or square piece
of paper.
Example from “Picture Books that Teach Concepts in Science, Math, and Social Studies to Beginning Readers” by
Mildred R. Donoghue, ,ERIC ED 455 499.
The Village of Round and Square Houses by V. Grifalconi (Little, Brown, 1986), 32 pp.
Science:
An Example
of
Concept Development
Identify the Concept in the
Learning Objective
7th Grade Standard
4. d. Students know that evidence from
radioactive dating indicates the age of the
Earth.
Objective:
Students will communicate the logical connection tests
conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from
the scientific evidence.
Concept: Carbon Dating
To develop the idea that carbon dating is based on
gathering evidence in the present and extrapolating it to
the past.
Provide a written bulletproof definition or rule that
contains the concept’s critical attributes
(characteristics)
Carbon Dating: A technique for measuring the
age of organic remains based on the rate of
decay of carbon 14.
Provide examples and nonexamples (or familiar and
unfamiliar) that clarify the concept by revealing
critical, noncritical, and shared attributes.
Teachers will teach the concept by explaining,
modeling, and demonstrating
Students interact with the concept through analogies
Concept Development:
Analogy
Analogy is a thinking skill demonstrated when a
student can give examples similar to, but not
identical to a target example.
Concept Development:
Analogy and Science
When a teacher uses phrases such as
“similarly”, “likewise”, “in the same way as”, “in
comparison to”, and “just like”, they are generally
using analogies to help students grasp a concept.
Concept Development:
Analogy and Science
If, however, the analogies are not well chosen or
applied systematically, they may be ineffective or
cause confusion.
Concept Development:
Analogy and Science
The goal is to transfer ideas from a familiar
concept (the analogue) to an unfamiliar one by
mapping their relationship.
Concept Development:
Analogy and Science
1. Introduce the target concept
2. Review the analogue concept
3. Identify the relevant features of target and analogue
4. Map similarities between the target and analogue
5. Indicate the limitations of the analogy
6. Draw conclusions
This fosters relationships and connections to new
and better understanding.
2. Review the analogue concept:
Transfer ideas from a
familiar concept (the
analogue) to an unfamiliar
one by mapping their
relationship.
The familiar concept (the analogue)
The analogy of a newly poured glass of soda and
counting the number of bubbles. The longer the
glass is exposed to air, the less the bubbles. By
measuring the rate of decrease in the number of
bubbles/time, one can determine the length of time
the glass was out.
3. Identify the relevant features of target and
analogue:
All living things on Earth are made up of a
high percentage of an element called Carbon.
Most carbon on Earth is not radioactive (C-12),
but a very small percentage is (C-14). Thus, as
living things take in carbon, they inevitably
will take up a small amount of radioactive
carbon, C-14, into their bodies.
3. Identify the relevant features of target and
analogue:
When life forms die, they stop
taking in new carbon.
The radioactive carbon, C-14,
decays at a known rate or set
amount of time.
3. Identify the relevant features of target and
analogue:
This allows scientists to look at the
amount of decay in a fossil’s
radioactive carbon, C-14, and
determine a relative date.
Radiocarbon dating is only effective
for objects and fossils that are less
than 50,000 years old.
4. Map similarities between the target and analogue
The rate of decrease in
bubbles can be used to
determined the length
of time the glass was
out. The longer the
glass of soda is out the
less the bubbles.
Radioactive carbon decays at a
known rate. This allows
scientists to look at the
amount of decay in a fossil’s
radioactive carbon, and
determine a relative date.
Critical Attributes of Carbon Dating

Based on gathering evidence in the present
and extrapolating it to the past.

A technique for measuring the age of organic
remains based on the rate of decay of carbon
14.
5. Indicate the limitations (non-attributes) of
the analogy:
Soda
is not a living thing.
Soda is not made up nor
does it require the same
elements as a living organism
Soda bubbles pop; they do
not decay like a once living
organism
6. Draw conclusions
Concept::
Carbon dating is based on
gathering evidence in the present
and extrapolating it to the past.
Wrap Up
Reviewing the lesson learning objectives:
 Be able to identify the steps in developing a concept.
 Be provided samples of concept development in ELA,
Math and Science following the steps and using a variety
of strategies to help students interact with concepts.
 Be introduced to concept maps for use in lesson concept
development
Resources
 Concept
 Models

Development Rubric
for Developing Concepts
Concept Map Template – Double Bubble Map
Next Webinar
Focused Learning Through
Direct Instruction
Session Six:
Skill Development, Guided Practice & Lesson Closure
December 7, 2011
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Register on the Region 2 RSDSS website:
http://www.tehamaschools.org/department/rsdss/upcoming-rsdss-events
Contact Information
Doreen Fuller (Shasta Hub Coordinator – serving Lassen,
Modoc, Siskiyou, Shasta, and Trinity Counties):
dfuller@shastacoe.org
Patty Garrison (Butte Hub Coordinator – serving Butte and
Plumas Counties): pgarriso@bcoe.org
Lorna Manuel (Region 2, RSDSS Director and Tehama
Hub Coordinator – serving Glenn and Tehama Counties):
lmanuel@tehamaschools.org