Concept Attainment Strategy: Synthesizing Text
by Chase Young
The concept attainment strategy is a highly effective strategy used to teach for understanding (Silver, Hanson, Strong, & Swartz, 2003). The understanding model requires students to reason, and teachers spark curiosity by asking puzzling questions. Outcomes include students understanding concepts, be able to describe the critical attributes of a concept, furthermore being able to analyze the concept in different contexts (Canter & Winberry, 2001).
This strategy will be used to teach the synthesis of text as discussed by Miller (2000). Good readers change their mind about the main idea as they read. A difficult concept for young readers, and is easily confused with sequence of events when presented as a four part process. The students are required to predict a main idea before reading a text, and change their main idea twice during, and finally synthesize the actual main idea upon completion of the text.
The concept attainment strategy will be used to determine the difference between a main idea and a specific sequence in the text. The examples of “yes” and “no” will be derived from Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner. The first two “yes” examples will be: Skippyjon Jones is a Siamese cat that wants to be a Chihuahua and Skippyjon Jones always disobeys his mother. The two “no” examples will be: Skippyjon Jones takes a bath in Mrs. Doohiggy’s birdbath and Skippyjon Jones is sent to his room. The two “yes” examples depict the main idea, and the two “no” examples are clearly events in the sequence of the text. At this point the student will be required to think about the differences and the similarities between the examples (Canter & Winberry, 2001).
Once the students have had time to organize a preliminary hypothesis, more examples will be given. Here are the next three “yes” examples: Skippyjon Jones has a magical closet, Skippyjon Jones saves Los Chimichangos from the Bad Bumbbleeto, and Skippyjon Jones imagines he is a great sword fighter and is a hero. The next three “no” examples are: Skippyjon Jones meets Los Chimichangos, Skippyjon Jones fights the Bad Bumbleeto, and Skippyjon Jones is sent to bed by his mother.
The aforementioned “yes” examples all describe the main idea of the story as one might infer throughout the text. The “no” examples are the sequence of events in Skippyjon Jones. Students will be required to determine the critical attributes of the “yes” examples, or the main idea. These attributes will include an overall explaination of the story, the point the author is making about the topic, the most important concept of the story, the central thought of the text, or what the story is mostly about. At this point, students should be able to generate their own examples of the main idea, and express a coherent definition of main idea.
Subsequent to the concept attainment, students will be required to synthesize concept, and apply it in a different context (Canter & Winberry, 2001). The activity where students will demonstrate their learning will be in the form of a read aloud. The teacher will read aloud Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner. Students will predict the main idea of the story before the story begins. Next, the teacher will stop at two predetermined points in the story where students will be required to synthesize the information from the text, and develop updated main idea statements. After the book is read, students will form a final main idea in which the overall main idea will be expressed based on the text read.
The concept attainment strategy promotes the understanding of concepts. Once the lesson has been completed, the students will be able to generate their own examples and apply their newfound knowledge in various contexts. Synthesis can then be applied to any text the student reads. Dr. Silver (Canter & Winberry, 2001) stated, “That which you discover, you own.” Because the students have discovered this concept, they will be able to apply their discovery in any self-selected text. Good readers change their minds and think about their own thinking, and thanks to the concept attainment strategy, it is their very own groundbreaking reading discovery (Canter & Winberry, 2001).
References
Canter, L., & Winberry, K. (Directors). (2001). Program 6: Concept Attainment Strategy [Motion picture]. In C. Arnold (Producer), Instructional Models and Strategies. Los Angeles: Laureate Education, Inc.
Miller, D. (2002). Reading With Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades. Stenhouse Publishers.
Silver, H. F., Hanson, J. R., Strong, R. W., & Schwartz, P. B. (2003). Teaching styles & strategies. Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ: The Thoughtful Education Press.
© 2011 Chase J. Young. All rights reserved.
