AIG Booster Shot #8Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Concept Development

Facilitator’s Guide

Concept Development (developed by Hilda Taba) allows students to:

Move beyond facts and on to generalizations. Think on higher levels. Make sense of big ideas for themselves.

Steps in Concept Development (modified):

1. List examples of the concept (What examples of progress can you name? Brainstorm as many examples as you can.)

2. Group and label examples (How are some of your examples alike? What characteristics do they share?)

3. Regroup and re-label examples, not using the previous groups or labels (How might you think about the examples in a different way?)

4. Create generalizations about the concept (What can you conclude about progress at this point?)

Tips for using Concept Development effectively:

Provide ample time for each step (about 15 minutes per step) Teach the process to the whole group and then allow students to work in

small groups once they understand the process Use index cards so that students can easily manipulate their examples Require at least 3 groups of examples, with no “miscellaneous” group or a

group with only 1 example Require that students limit the group labels to 1 or 2 words Remind students to create groups based on important thinking (not on

shallow characteristics such as the starting letters of words) Provide time for student groups to share and hone their generalizations

Resources for Further Reading and Exploration:

http://www.rfwp.com/samples/conceptdevelopmentp1-15.pdf

General Ideas for Next Steps:

Continue reading about concept-based instruction (see resource above).

Watch a Concept Development lesson on YouTube (there are several to choose from), and evaluate the lesson. What works well? What would you modify? Why?

Teach a Concept Development lesson based on a concept that you want your students to understand. Ask a colleague to observe the lesson and provide feedback, if possible.