Concept Attainment draws on this powerful process of concept formation
by asking students to analyze both examples (called “yes” examples
in a classroom lesson) and nonexamples (called “no” examples in a
classroom lesson) of a concept, group the examples into a conceptual
category, test their initial categories against further examples and nonexamples
and, finally, generate a set of critical attributes that define the
concept they are learning. The effectiveness of Concept Attainment as an
instructional strategy is further bolstered by the fact that it engages students
deeply in the skills of identifying similarities and differences and
generating and testing hypotheses—two of the nine instructional techniques
proven to raise students’ level of achievement as identified by
Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2001).