Concept attainment

•Search for and listing of attributes that can be

used to distinguish exemplars from non
exemplars of various categories.
•Requires a pupil to figure out the attributes of a
category by comparing and contrasting
examples with the concept that do not contain
those attributes.
 Examplars

• A subset of a collection of a data set.

• Collection of samples that share one or
more characteristics that are missing in
the others.
• Comparing the positive exemplars and
contrasting them with the negative ones
that the concept or category is learned.
 Attributes

• All items of data have features, and we

refer to these as attributes.
• To teach a concept, we have to be very
clear about its defining attributes
• We must also select our negative
exemplars so that items with some but not
all the attributes can be ruled out.
• After a concept has been attained, we can
ask them to recount their thinking as the
exercise proceeded- by describing the
ideas they came up with at each step,
what attributes they were concentrating
on, and what modifications they had to
make.
• “Tell us what you thought at the beginning,
why you thought so, and what changes
you had to make.”
• This can lead to a discussion in which the
pupils can discover one another’s
strategies.
• For example, if we select numbers that are
odd numbers (these become the positive
exemplars) and some that are not (these
become negative exemplars- the ones that
do not have the attributes of the category
odd numbers).
• We present the numbers to the pupils in
pairs.
 Example 1

Positive Exemplars Negative Exemplars

• 121 187.1
• 81 26.2
• 11 1/2
• 5 8
Example 3
Present the following list of numbers labeled
yes or no
• 21 yes
• 22 no
• 42 yes
• 32 no
• 27 yes
• 17 no
• 33 yes
 Example 4

• 20, 15, 4 (No)

• 35, 12, 6 (No)
• 46, 40, 6 (Yes)
• 55, 36, 19 (Yes)
• 12, 7, 6 (No)
• 8, 6, 2 (Yes)
• 10, 8, 2 (Yes)
 Activity 3
In a group of 3-4 persons, plan an activity using
concept attainment model to teach:
• multiplication.
• place value.
• decimals.
• fractions.
• time.
• percents.
• measurement: length.
• measurement: weight.