Lessons Designed to Teach Fifth Grade Students the Concept Tree at the Formal Level of Attainment. Practical Paper No. 15.

The autoinstructional activities included in this booklet were designed to be used to teach fifth-grade students the science concept "tree" at the formal level of attainment. The instructional strategies used in the lessons had been shown in previous studies to facilitate concept learning when used singly or in combination with one another. The strategies used are: (1) use of a definition, (2) empirical selection of concept examples through an instance probability analysis, (3) use of rational sets of examples and nonexamples, (4) pairing of examples with nonexamples, (5) emphasis of relevant attributes, (6) teaching of strategy, (7) immediate feedback, and (8) active involvement by the student. Instruction was divided into two parts, each part being a lesson. The first lesson presents the defining attributes and teaches children labels for defining attributes. The second lesson presents the definition of "trees," presents a rational set of examples and nonexamples, and teaches a strategy for evaluating whether or not an instance is an example of the concept. Active involvement and immediate feedback are provided for the student in both lessons. (Author/CP)