The instructional design presented in this article discusses a procedure for arranging and sequencing examples and nonexamples for concept teaching in the classroom. Concepts are divided into two types: definition and observation. A definition concept is one in which the critical attributes are determined by the definition, e.g., war. Observation…

Previous research has shown that sequences in which instances from the same category appear successively facilitate performance in concept attainment. This could be due to subjects adopting strategies which involve comparisons of instances from within the same category. However, if subjects were to adopt a strategy involving comparisons of…

Shows how elaboration theory (ET) sequences the concepts in a taxonomy and argues that the product of an ET analysis is usually in general agreement with sequencing based on learning prerequisite relationships, and that ET sequencing of taxonomic concepts will not violate learning prerequisite relationships. (Author/MER)

Questions the approach used to the topic of energy in Nuffield Secondary Science. Indicates that 14-year-old children will not be able to generalize from the experiments to see a pattern energing, and the concept of energy involves understanding of other concepts that the children have not yet attained. (GS)

In the first of three studies, separately reported, the effects of prompting and sequencing on a science concept task were studied with college students. The data analysis showed that the prompting procedure was significantly different from a no-prompting condition; prompting seemed to negate the affect of the defined concept instructional…

A study was devised to investigate the effects of sequence of concept presentation and practice in a concept learning task. Learners were presented with either one conjunctive concept at a time, or with multiple concepts all related to the same principle. Practice was sequenced in four positions: before concept presentation, after concept…

Discusses the advantages of teaching history sequentially, considering factual, methodological, and conceptual relationships. (CK)

A total of 132 volunteer 10th and 11th grade students participated in an experiment to investigate two variables of computer-based adaptive instructional strategies for concept learning. The first variable tested the hypothesis that selection of number of examples according to on-task information is more efficient than selection according to…

For college students learning concepts, the advisement condition resulted in better performance than the learner control condition and needed less instructional time than the adaptive control condition. Results also indicated that students given concepts simultaneously performed better and needed less instruction than those who received concepts…

Senior high students who were given concepts simultaneously learned more than those who received concepts successively. A second variable, instructional control strategy, contrasted an adaptive (computer-assisted) control strategy with learner control. Performance was above the criterion level for the adaptive condition, but below it for learner…

TWO STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING MULTIPLE-DISCRIMINATION TASKS WERE REPORTED. THE "MULTIPLE CONCEPT" PRESENTS SIMPLE DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVERAL RELATED CONCEPTS AT THE BEGINNING OF INSTRUCTION. INCREASINGLY COMPLEX MATERIAL PERTAINING TO THESE CONCEPTS IS THEN GRADUALLY INTRODUCED. THE "SINGLE CONCEPT" PRESENTS ONE CONCEPT AT A TIME,…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a factor analysis procedure for sequencing self-instructional materials associated with concept attainment. The effects of a computer-generated psychological sequence compared with a random sequence of concepts on sequential decision-making by three achievement levels of students were determined.…

Describes two experiments in Dutch secondary schools that were carried out to study the effect of the sequencing of the information in computer-assisted instructional programs. Instructional design for concept learning is discussed; successive and coordinate relationships between concepts are explained; and tests designed for procedural and…