Concept and Concept Formation

 

By Hu Wo (Cuckoo’s Song)

 

IN EDUCATIONAL study, theory and practice often go together. Only if so will the study be meaningful. Here, concepts lay the foundation stones for the theo­ry. Concepts involve the grouping or classification of things or items which possess the same attrib­utes, features or characteristics. The process of forming a certain concept is called conceptualiza­tion. Concept formation, which is used as categorization by Bruner, is to use categories so as to dis­tinguish or classify various types of things or objects according to their similar characteristics. Thus, concepts can be referred to as an understanding or opinion formed in the mind regarding a certain perception, thinking or idea. This understanding or opinion should be explained as a specific idea in relation to things, events, phe­nomenal objects or figures which contain unique characteristics.

 

Conceptualization is closely related to the perception process, which begins from external stimuli that have been perceived by hu­man sensory organs and transmit­ted to the brain via the secondary nerves to see, hear, touch, smell or feel in order to analyze, explain, in­terpret, classify or summarize the information received, followed by the classification into categories based on their unique character­istics. According to Schunk, the function of the human brain is to convert the perceptual stimuli into a mental process which will then summarize overall information in the process of concept forma­tion, whereas by Bruner, the most crucial function of concept forma­tion is to categorize into general characteristics of a certain group of objects or idea with the aim to simplify various types of stimuli so as to become briefer, easier to understand, to learn and to re­member.

 

The two important methods which are usually used to form new concepts are the inductive method and the deductive method. The inductive method typically involves the activity of collecting, analyzing and interpreting in­formation grouped together and then arriving at a certain concept of generalization. Applying this method, a teacher mostly begins his lessons by introducing a few specific examples that contain common attributes or characteris­tics. Through the examples given, children will be guided to study, analyze, interpret, and abstract the general characteristics includ­ed in each of the specific examples and then derive some concepts. The formation of concepts using the deductive approach starts with the concepts already acquired to produce a new concept by means of logical reasoning, as well as to obtain new formulae, principles, laws, theorems, rules, conclusions or generalizations based on those which have been learned in order to comprehend, interpret or solve certain specific but related prob­lems. Of course, concept formation is a complex learning process, and there are quite a number of factors that are closely related to the for­mation process, mainly cognitive development, mental intelligence, language ability, individual experi­ence, learning transfer, its nature and characteristics or attributes.

 

According to Bruner, con­cepts can be sorted into three categories: conjunctive, disjunc­tive and relational. The conjunc­tive concept refers to a concept in which two or more integrated attributes cannot be lessened. For example, a pencil is made of lead and used as a writing instrument. Without any one of these two at­tributes, the concept of pencil will be considered incomplete. The disjunctive concept refers to at­tributes that have been integrated into a concept so that they can be used in certain situations or oth­er situations. For example, good service in a table tennis game is a player who can send the ball to his opponent, or his opponent is unable to return the ball right to him. In this case, the first situa­tion or both can be grouped under the concept of good service. The relational concept is an attrib­ute contained in a concept that possesses special relationships with one another. Most relation­al concepts are often made up of attributes with time and space. For example, animals can be clas­sified with or without the back­bone; amphibians, reptiles and mammals are vertebrates, while insects, spiders and millipedes are invertebrates. Such a method of classification will provide an easier way to identify, understand, learn or remember various types of information. Bruner even stat­ed that language is an important representative of human cognitive development for the simple reason that humans tend to use symbols and language to help think and solve problems by means of the formation of concepts and deri­vation of generalizations.

 

According to Piaget, concept learning is closely connected with a child’s age level. Children’s cog­nitive development typically un­dergoes four different stages: the sensory-motor stage (0-2 years), pre-operational stage (2-7 years), concrete operational stage (7-12 years), and formal operational stage (after 12 years). The cogni­tive development in each stage im­portantly influences the formation of concrete or abstract concepts.

 

During the pre-operational stage, children commence to use language as well as symbols to explain a certain concept, but they are still unable to make classifications, relationships or comparisons between objects. Ad­ditionally, their thinking is solely influenced by what they just per­ceive. Children around the age of seven commence sustaining the concept of matching one with the other between two sets. Also, they begin understanding the simple concept of inverse operation in abstract terms and can learn more than one thing at a time, as well as master the conservation concept. Other than this, children even pos­sess the ability to classify, arrange and differentiate objects. However, their effectiveness in learning still depends upon concrete objects and direct experiences related to abstract concepts.

 

According to Bruner, the stages of cognitive development which normal children have to go through are not four but three: the enactive stage (0-2 years), icon­ic stage (2-4 years) and symbol­ic stage (5-7 years). In the first stage, many activities performed by children rely on their physical movements. In the second stage, they can even use their brain to think and figure out certain imag­es in the mind. In the third stage, they start thinking and using lan­guage to express ideas. As the age increases, the use of language to describe concepts starts to de­velop. Bruner was firmly of the opinion that the above-mentioned three stages of cognitive devel­opment are interrelated and are also life-long processes, contrary to Piaget’s.

 

Finally, the ways teachers can improve conceptualization skills will herein be described as far as I can see.

 

1) Guide children to use the approach from an acquired concept to the next and from a concrete concept to an ab­stract one.

 

2) Make use of concrete mate­rials to relate symbolic lan­guage.

 

3) Start the lesson with simple and explicit attributes which can be easily identified.

 

4) Allow children to use the in­ductive method to provide sufficient examples forming a new concept.

 

5) Also, make children use the deductive method to form any new concept or principle.

 

6) Arrange the contents of learn­ing materials into stages founded on the principle from acquired to new knowledge, from nearby to distant envi­ronments, and from simple to complex concepts.

 

7) Assist children in mastering language skills to formulate a new concept or principle.

8) Use audio-visual aids and concrete examples based on the former experiences of children in teaching and learning activities. Charts or diagrams are commonly used to highlight the main attrib­utes only so it is easier for children to perceive the rele­vant concepts in accordance with the explicit principle that influences concept formation. Thus, teachers should use rel­evant charts or diagrams first before involving learning in the actual situation.

 

9) Apply the inquiry-discovery method to form a higher lev­el of concept, principle, law, generalization or formula in­cluded. Through the process of inquiry-discovery, children will better understand the concepts related to that prin­ciple, law, generalization or formula rather than directly explain the meaning under­lying these concepts.