Teaching concept analysis

The following information is from Unit 19 of the book Teaching: A Course in Psychology by Wesley C. Becker, Siegfried Engelmann, and Don R. Thomas. 

Note: Science Research Associates published the book in 1971. I am unsure if the publishers reprinted the book or if it is available to buy. I found it through a university inter-library loan program. I suspect that Becker or Engelmann use the book or some form of it in their special education teaching classes at the University of Oregon.

• Discriminate or differential responding: in the field of learning, it refers to evidence of responding one way to one class of stimuli and responding another way to another class of stimuli
• Stimulus generalization: when a person responds to a new stimulus in the same way he responds to a previously taught stimulus that has similar characteristics
• Example: calling red things “red” and blue things “not red” and then calling orange things “red” also
• Three factors cause generalization
• The number of identical stimulus characteristics
• The number and magnitude of the difference in concept characteristics between two concepts
• The degree of prior discrimination training with concept differences
• If you can predict when stimulus generalization may occur, you can prevent or plan for the difficulties

• Analysis of concept universes
• Basic concept domains show that concepts from one domain do not share characteristics with concepts from another domain
• Concept domains
• Objects (living things, man-made things, etc.)
• Object properties (mass, heat, state, structure, parts, shape, size, color, surface properties, etc.)
• Events in time and space (conservation of mass, movement, change in energy, change in group composition)
• Relationships among events in time and space (cause and effect)
• Casual relations
• Teach lower-domain concepts before higher-domain concepts
• Example: teach what a car is before you teach the color red or the student may think that when you show a red car and say it is red, the student will think that “red” means car
• Example: the student should know the names and characteristics of things being taught for relative size
• The idea is to teach the lower concepts with concept instances and non-examples
• Then teach more complex concepts in comparison to the simple concepts

• Concept hierarchies: lower order concepts are joined together to form higher order concepts
• A higher concept has more instances (examples) than a lower concept
• To teach a hierarchy you teach concepts from two levels at the same time
• Example: to teach about mammals, teach mammals and not-mammals
• Then teach sub-groups of mammals
• Teaching two levels teaches:
• How concepts are related and teaches
• How one concept can be an instance of another concept
• Related concepts and instances need to be carefully discriminated

• Concept analysis examples
• Two concept pairs (S+) and (S-) and two other groups of concepts
• Concepts whose characteristics are irrelevant to the central concept instances (Si)
• Higher-order concepts whose characteristics are common to the two concepts being analyzed (Sc)
• Horses vs. dogs example
• Differences
• Horses (S+): hooves, large, mane, whinny
• Dogs (S-): paws, small, no mane, bark
• Irrelevant stimuli (Si)
• Both: position
• Higher order characteristics common to S+ and S- (Sc)
• Both: Mammary glands, four legs, move, grow, living
• Police dog vs. wolf
• Differences
• Dog (S+): bark, small, dull teeth
• Wolf (S-): no bark, big, sharp teeth
• Irrelevant stimuli (Si)
• Both: position
• Higher order characteristics common to S+ and S- (Sc)
• Both: canines, colors, move, grow, living
• Dog vs. tree example
• Differences
• Dog (S+): dog shape, move, noise, legs
• Tree (S-): tree shape, no moving, no noises, branches
• Irrelevant stimuli (Si)
• Both: position
• Higher order characteristics common to S+ and S- (Sc)
• Both: grow, living
• Square vs. triangle example
• Differences
• Square (S+): 4 angles, 90 degree angles
• Triangle (S-): 3 angles, variable angles
• Irrelevant stimuli (Si)
• Both: size, position, color, surface pattern
• Higher order characteristics common to S+ and S- (Sc)
• Both: closed figures, straight sides

• To teach concepts
• If there are many differences between S+ and S-
• Teach some differences
• Example: dog and tree
• If there are few differences between S+ and S-
• Teach all differences
• Example: dog and wolf
• Common characteristics (Sc)
• Likewise teach more discriminations from S+ to S- if the concepts have few differences
• Irrelevant characteristics (Si)
• Make sure to teach most concepts in different angles or positions just in case a student may think that location is relevant
• Higher order concepts have more irrelevant characteristics
• The ratio of essential characteristics to irrelevant characteristics shows how abstract a concept is
• Example: the more Si and the less S+, the more abstract
• After you analyze the concepts you want to teach, you can group concepts
• You can determine what is higher-order
• You can determine teaching sequences