Concept Development Model
Basic overview:
The Concept Development Model is a great model to use when students already understand a concept and when you'd like them to think a little more deeply about it, see it in a different perspective, or be more able to apply it to/see it as a theme in new material you will be learning.
The general idea is this: Ask students to list everything that comes to mind when they think of a certain concept. After the students have come up with a list they sort it into different categories and label each category. Students then discuss their reasoning for their categorization and use the category names and the words on the list to write their own definition of the concept. Key to the process is the teacher creating an environment where there is no one right answer so students feel free to say what they think.
In the classroom:
Recently in my instructional development class this model was presented to us as if we were a class of 9th graders about to delve into Romeo and Juliet. The presenters asked us to generate a list of words we think of when we hear the word "love". At first the comments were slow, but as students realized that there was no judgement and no wrong answers the list grew quickly.
As we were generating the list a student in my class added "stalking" to it. I personally thought it was a crazy answer and argued that it didn't fit on the list. The students who were presenting laughed and said, "anything goes." I think we already had a good atmosphere in the class where we felt like we could be vulnerable and say what we were thinking (hence the reason I felt like I could disagree without offending anyone), but after the students presenting reacted in that way I think it our feeling of unity and non-judgement grew. It impacted me because I realized just how important it is in this model to not shut students' new (and sometimes different) thoughts and ideas down.
After generating our list we divided the words into categories. We could use as many or as few categories as we wanted. Here were some of the categories students created:
Finally, the presenters had us each write our own definition of what love and share them (this is a great opportunity to assess, whether it's pre-assessment or a post-assessment of a concept). My definition, based on my categorization, read: "Love is a feeling and an action directed towards people or things." We realized while doing this exercise that there are many different perceptions of what love is and how it is expressed, and that there are many different things to love.
The presentation ended there and we didn't continue on to discuss Romeo and Juliet like we would have had we actually been 9th grade students, but I thought this exercise nicely set the stage. We could have continued on to discuss family love and how the love Romeo and Juliet's parents had for them affected who they wanted them to be with. We could have discussed the love that Romeo and Juliet had for each other.
Possible variations:
The Concept Development Model is a great model to use when students already understand a concept and when you'd like them to think a little more deeply about it, see it in a different perspective, or be more able to apply it to/see it as a theme in new material you will be learning.
The general idea is this: Ask students to list everything that comes to mind when they think of a certain concept. After the students have come up with a list they sort it into different categories and label each category. Students then discuss their reasoning for their categorization and use the category names and the words on the list to write their own definition of the concept. Key to the process is the teacher creating an environment where there is no one right answer so students feel free to say what they think.
In the classroom:
Recently in my instructional development class this model was presented to us as if we were a class of 9th graders about to delve into Romeo and Juliet. The presenters asked us to generate a list of words we think of when we hear the word "love". At first the comments were slow, but as students realized that there was no judgement and no wrong answers the list grew quickly.
As we were generating the list a student in my class added "stalking" to it. I personally thought it was a crazy answer and argued that it didn't fit on the list. The students who were presenting laughed and said, "anything goes." I think we already had a good atmosphere in the class where we felt like we could be vulnerable and say what we were thinking (hence the reason I felt like I could disagree without offending anyone), but after the students presenting reacted in that way I think it our feeling of unity and non-judgement grew. It impacted me because I realized just how important it is in this model to not shut students' new (and sometimes different) thoughts and ideas down.
After generating our list we divided the words into categories. We could use as many or as few categories as we wanted. Here were some of the categories students created:
While I worked with my group to categorize the list I noticed how it made us think more deeply about what love really is and the different perceptions and usages of love. The fact that students can work together and learn to be interdependent in this model also adds to its value.
After we finished our grouping we came together as a class and the presenters had a few groups show how they categorized the list. As I observed the different categorizations and thought about them, I had a new idea come to mind and so I re-categorized the list like this:
Finally, the presenters had us each write our own definition of what love and share them (this is a great opportunity to assess, whether it's pre-assessment or a post-assessment of a concept). My definition, based on my categorization, read: "Love is a feeling and an action directed towards people or things." We realized while doing this exercise that there are many different perceptions of what love is and how it is expressed, and that there are many different things to love.
The presentation ended there and we didn't continue on to discuss Romeo and Juliet like we would have had we actually been 9th grade students, but I thought this exercise nicely set the stage. We could have continued on to discuss family love and how the love Romeo and Juliet's parents had for them affected who they wanted them to be with. We could have discussed the love that Romeo and Juliet had for each other.
Possible variations:
- Sometimes high school students are shy and it's hard to get them talking. Perhaps having students write down all the words they think of on a paper and then calling on them would work well.
- You can use any combination of whole class, group and individual work for creating the list, sorting, and writing a definition.
- Can be used as an assessment, a strategy, and as a sub-model.
- Can integrate technology by having students look online for different definitions of a word in addition to their own definition; can allow them to use computers to easily record, organize and revise their lists.
Perks:
- Helps students deepen, expand and solidify their understanding of a concept.
- Includes group work and all of the amazing benefits associated with that.
- Can be used in a variety of ways.
- Can use this in any subject, including math and the sciences.
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