Background on Learning Concepts
Learning a concept is kind of like learning a definition, but instead of defining the meaning of a word, you're defining a group of things that all together make up one bigger thing. You might think of the thing as a type, class, or group of things that have enough in common that we can call them by one general name.
One simple example of a concept could be "car." We know a car usually has four wheels, an engine, and carries people on roads. You could define a smaller concept with a sub-group of cars like luxury, sports, or off-road. Each of these types represents a concept: for something to be an example of that type, it must have certain things.
We call these certain things "critical attributes." "Critical" because the thing must have these attributes (or characteristics, or aspects, or features) in order to be part of the group. For example, if a vehicle flies in the air, not drives on roads, it couldn't be considered a car because it doesn't have the "car" critical attribute of being designed to drive on roads.
Defining your Concept
When you define a concept, you're basically looking very carefully at something or a group of things, trying to find out what makes them what they are and not something else. Let's do it this way:
- Begin by listing or clustering everything that you can think of that's important on your topic. For example all the issues the Supreme Court had to consider when deciding on Brown v. the Board of Education or all the issues that come up in current events related to school desegregation. Your goal is to first get a really big picture and not miss anything. After you've done all your research and Internet investigation, take about 10 minutes to create this list or cluster.
- Using your cluster or list, now study it, looking for the main aspects.
For something to be in the concept you're developing ("fair and equal schools" or "the current debate on desegregation"),
what are the things you're written down that you think are critical attributes or essential? For the "car" example, ask the question, "If it didn't have these things, would it still be a car?"
- Apply this question to each of the things on your list:
"If it didn't have this thing, would people still call it ________ ? ("fair and equal education" or "the current debate on desegregation"). Circle or highlight all the things you've listed that seem to be such critical attributes.- Choose what you think are the most important 2 - 4 things
that must be in the concept you're developing. Then return to the Scaffolding page for Concept Development and fill in the form.
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Created January, 1999
By Tom March,
tom at ozline dot comApplications Design Team/Wired Learning