Concept Development

The other day in class I decided to use the concept development teaching method for the first time. I used it as a preassessment to see what my students knew about the concept of energy. I first divided my classes into groups of about 4 students. I gave each group an 11 x 17 inch piece of paper and post-it notes. I told the groups that I wanted them to think about the term "energy" and list any words, terms, ideas, etc. on the post-it notes and place them on the paper. After a few minutes, when the students seemed to be running out of ideas, I told them to think about what these items have in common and try to group them. After they had them grouped the next step was to label each group. While they completed this step I allowed them to regroup anything they thought no longer fit together. The final, and what seemed to be the hardest step, was to summarize their ideas. I thought this method worked really well as a preassessment because it got the students to recollect their previous knowledge on energy and allowed me to see what ideas and concepts they were familiar with. I plan on using this method again in the future either as a preassessment or as an instructional tool.