Concept Attainment Model

Wow, I finally remembered that I need to actually blog about my reflection. Not just think about it :) My lesson on the concept attainment model seemed to go pretty good. I used the model to introduce my students to the concept of herbiovores to be followed by a unit on herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. The process of providing the students with examples of what they would be doing, I did not feel that it went as well as it could have. I had tried the lesson in a short version with a neighboring second grade class the day before. That class did not have any trouble with the example set nor the main set of comparisons. However, it took quite a bit of coaxing to get my students to identify what I was looking for in the sample set. I was very proud of how quickly they picked up on the main lesson, as to what characteristic all the positive examples had in common.

Even though my students do activities together, I really noticed through the recording of my class that they need to learn more skills on working collaboratively. In fact, since recording this lesson I have done two other activities that required them to work collaboratively and turn in one final product for their group and they have struggled to get along. They want to each do the work on their own and turn it in. This is an issue that we will definitely address with many lessons to come.

When watching Jamie's video in class, I noticed that I did not actually take the time to list the attributes that the positives had in common. I think that may have been a good idea. But once I reflect a little more, I did in a way do that when I wrote the definition of a herbivore on the board during one of our closing activities. I am not sure if this were okay or not. In a sense I think everyone is going to have their own perspective on the actual looks of steps. So maybe I covered it, but I do like the way that Jamie made the list as the lesson progressed. Next time I do a lesson of this manner I believe I will make note to create a list of the attributes of the concept with the class, during the lesson.