EDU 330: Educational Psychology Daniel Moos, PhD Conceptual Change EDU 330: Educational Psychology Daniel Moos, PhD

Conceptual Change What is conceptual change? Learning that generally changes an existing conception (i.e. idea, belief, way of thinking) What are some strategies to support conceptual change? The Conceptual Change Model (CCM) assists students by actively identifying and challenging their existing conceptions and skills.

CLASS #1 (former 6thg grade colleague): Ask students what they think history “is” (students generally have misconception that history is a series of facts, unaffected by the biases of those who document events) Engage in class discussion (teacher does not attempt to address misconceptions at this point) Class identifies “class definition” (typically reflects misconceptions)

CLASS #2: Teacher walks into class dress wildly (wig, wild clothes) Acts oddly for 10 minutes (stands on table, speaks on topics unrelated to history, etc) Asks students to record what they witnessed on a piece of paper (students record behavior as odd, etc) Teacher concurrently records events (teacher records events as perfectly normal, “best history lesson ever) Teacher collect student writing, rips them up, and only reads his writing (which offers a much different perspective of events) Asks students to think/reflect about the role of bias and perspective in history

CLASS #3: Small and/or large group discussion on reflections written at the end of class Class definition of history is revisited and revised Teacher offers a historical account and asks to students to identify potential biases and/or additional perspectives that may be important to consider

Concept Attainment (I) What is concept attainment? Strategy that promotes independence, analytical thinking, and making connections between what students know and what students are going to learn Why does concept attainment work? Involves students in their own learning (metacognition, autonomy/motivation, scaffolding) Consistent with how humans process information: Naturally organize things into categories based on common attributes (schemas according to Piaget and others) How does concept attainment work?

Concept Attainment (II) How does concept attainment work? Teacher Identifies concept Teacher provides “Yes” and “No” examples Students develop common definition for “Yes” examples Students test and refine their list with more examples

Concept Attainment (III) Teacher Identifies concept Develop a strong conceptual understanding of what a predator is and how they are uniquely adapted to the life they lead

Concept Attainment (IV) (2) Teacher provides “Yes” and “No” examples Begins lesson by explaining to the class that some examples are yes examples and some are no examples. Explains to the class how they are suppose to figure out what the concept is. Shows a list of animals (note: examples should be relatively known and understandable by your students; that is, they should be able to easily identifies attributes that define the examples). Cat (Yes) Dog (Yes) Rabbit (No) Students develop hypothesis from first list

Concept Attainment (V) (3) Students develop common definition for “Yes” examples Following initial list of animals (Cat, Dog, Rabbit, etc), students develop concepts (think-pair-share) Discuss as class Write some of the concepts on the board

Concept Attainment (VI) (4) Students test and refine their list with more examples Provide additional examples (note: additional examples should represent more conceptually challenging examples) Snake (Yes) Horse (No) Eagle (Yes) Compare list with concepts listed on board Refine list based on additional examples (class, think-pair-share, independent writing) Teacher reveals concept and how concept reflects examples

Concept Attainment (VII) Concepts Attainment strategy can be used for concepts that are abstract/ difficult to convey with a simple definition: Science: Mammal Math: Linear Equations Social Studies: Communism English/LA: Noun Health: Balanced Meal Physical Education: Mechanics of a basketball shot Music: Characteristics of a Baroque Style