Staff Development
Rio Tierra Junior High School
Topic: Concept Attainment
Using Deductive and Inductive
thought to learn in a meaningful way
Presenters:
Naomi Johnson
 John Murray
 Elvia Sanchez
 Terry Barber

What is Concept Attainment?
 A method
of teaching important concepts
 Uses deductive and inductive reasoning

Promotes critical thinking
 May
be used for any subject
 Technology can assist in concept
attainment
Three Examples
 John
Murray - Social Studies
 Elvia Sanchez – Language Arts
 Terry Barber - Living Skills
Example 1
Social Studies
John Murray
Example 1: Social Studies
States’ rights doctrine
 Rule: An argument that state power
should be greater than national
power because the states ratified the
Constitution that created the national
government
 Concept:
Example 1: Social Studies
Critical Attributes:
1.
2.
3.
States created the national government;
therefore, power comes from the states.
State power is supreme--not national
power.
Since state power is supreme, states
may nullify federal laws.
Example 1: Social Studies
Exemplars for Driving the Concept:
+ South Carolina nullifies a federal tariff
+ Massachusetts ignores the Fugitive Slave
Law
- After Congress creates the national bank,
Maryland establishes a state bank
+ Georgia ignores the Supreme Court’s
ruling in Worcester v. Georgia; forcibly
removes thousands of natives
Example 1: Social Studies
Exemplars for testing and confirming
1.
2.
3.
4.
California ignores federal drug laws and
allows medical use of marijuana
North Dakota allows growth of industrial
hemp, despite federal law
Texas starts its own space program
Thirty-seven states pass articles of
impeachment against the president
Example 1: Social Studies
Test Results
Class 2
concept attainment
model
averaged
70% correct
Class 4
concept attainment
model
averaged
68% correct
Class 5
definition and one
example
averaged
73% correct
Class 6
definition and one
example
averaged
73% correct
Example 2
Grammar
Elvia Sanchez
Example 2: Grammar
 Phase
I: present labeled examples
 Phase II: identify labeled examples
 Phase III: discuss role of hypotheses
and attributes
Example 2: Grammar
Exemplars
Non Exemplars
On a trip
 After many years
 During their stay
 Outside the door


A long trip
 Many years later
 The trip to the mall
 A door is broken
Example 2: Grammar
Exemplars or non exemplars?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In front of the garbage cans
Behind the first place winner
Walking around the gallery
Listening to the radio
To the railroad museum
Example 2: Grammar
Answer
 Concept:
prepositional phrases
 Rule: Prepositional phrases begin
with a preposition
 Supplemental Technology:
 PowerPoint

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html
More advanced:
Exemplars
Non Exemplars
To the supermarket
 To laugh at myself
 Sleeping cat
 Smiling brightly
 In the garden


Where the car is
 When you know
 As they walked in
 How she remembered
 If he says so
Example 2: Grammar
Answer:
 Concept:
Phrases
 Rule: Phrases do not have both a verb
and its subject
Example 3
Living Skills
Terry Barber
Example 3: Living Skills
Concept: Poor Working Conditions
 Rules:





The condition could affect the workers production
The worker has no ability to change the situation
The condition is harsh
Supplemental Technology:


PowerPoint
Internet research assignment
Example 3: Living Skills
Phase 1: Identify Examples
+ Joan’s boss often stands behind her and
uses obscene language to get her to work
faster.
- Lillie likes going to work because her boss
is respectful to her.
+ Susan is afraid of being fined by her
employer for talking at work.
- Jack is confident his boss will allow him to
leave work early if he has some important
business to take care of.
Example 3: Living Skills
Phase 1: Identify Examples (Cont’d)
+ Joan gets headaches because the lights
are too low in the factory where she works
+ Fred works about fourteen hours a day
and has no choice about whether or not he
works that long
- Frank feels energetic after work and has
plenty of time for hobbies, friends, etc.
- Billy gets breaks every couple of hours to
relax and regain his strength; he gets an
hour for lunch
Example 3: Living Skills
Phase 2: Confirm Concept
Phase 3: Students label examples
__ Cheryl has to share one bathroom with a couple
hundred other workers and a family of rats.
__ Judy’s company has heat in the winter and air
conditioning in the summer.
__ Fred gets a raise at least once a year based on
his performance.
__ Shaka often sees some of the workers arguing
and fighting each other at work.
Example 3: Living Skills
Phase 4: Ask Questions for Assessment
 Describe your idea of a poor working
condition.
 What did you think the concept of poor
working conditions was initially?
 What gave you the most clues?
 What strategy did you use to find the
answers?
 How can you use this thinking for other
problems?
Resources



Pritchard, Florence Fay. 23 July 1994. Teaching
Thinking Across the Curriculum with the Concept
Attainment Model.
Nelson, Mike; Pan, Alex. Oct 1995. Integrating
the Concept Attainment Teaching Model and
Videodisk Images.
Johnson, Julie. 01 Jan 1992. Developing
Conceptual Thinking: The Concept Attainment
Model. Clearing House, Vol v66, Issue Nov-Dec