Near Non-Examples in Concept Formation
A Powerful Way to Improve Learning
You may not have thought about learning this way, but examples, non-examples, and especially near non-examples play significant roles in rigorous concept formation. See here how powerful near non-examples are in learning.
Examples and More Examples
Teachers know the value of an example when teaching a concept. Congress, for example, is an example of a representative governing body. Yet interestingly, presenting one positive example or even a narrow range of positive examples does not sufficiently form a concept. Studies show that instruction must display a wide range of examples for students to distinguish the concept’s critical criteria from non-critical variables associated with common presentations of the concept.
Thus, while Congress is one example of a representative governing body, so, too, are the state legislature, county commission, and city council. Students seeing Congress as the only example of a representative governing body might misunderstand the concept to require a national element when regional or local bodies would also qualify.
Beware Irrelevant Commonalities
Avoid presenting examples that have irrelevant commonalities. Studies show that students will incorrectly assume that irrelevant commonalities are critical attributes of the concept. Thus, the U.S. Congress and U.K. Parliament are two examples of representative governing bodies. They are both English-speaking bodies, but that commonality is irrelevant. France’s National Assembly is also a representative governing body, even though not English speaking.
What Is a Non-Example?
We cannot teach a concept or construct adequately, though, only by presenting examples. We must also present non-examples. The concepts or constructs that your content standards require you to teach are generally conceptual categories. The concept you’ll teach today has boundaries and limits. Certain things accurately represent the concept, while other things do not do so. Your students should be able to give examples of the concept. Yet to know the concept, that is, to distinguish it from other concepts, students should also be able to give non-examples of the concept. For example, while Congress is a representative governing body, an acorn, oak tree, or planet or star are not representative governing bodies. That is in part how learning proceeds, discerning examples and non-examples.
What Is a Near Non-Example?
The non-examples just given, though, were so obvious as to mock the value of non-examples to learning. Acorns, oak trees, stars, and planets are so obviously not representative bodies that those non-examples do little in the way of teaching. That’s where near non-examples come in. The closer a non-example comes to the concept, the more power the non-example has in helping a student understand the concept’s features. For instance, while the Supreme Court is not a representative body, it has some features of a representative body, enough that one could argue about whether it is representative or not. And those arguments would help students understand the purpose, function, definition, and limits of a representative body.
Why Near Non-Examples Work
To know a concept requires the ability not just to recognize examples but also to distinguish the examples from near non-examples. Positive examples do not sufficiently form a concept. Instruction must also display negative examples, if students are to learn the concept’s distinct attributes, limits, and contours. Studies show that for negative examples to rule out the greatest number of possible concept misinterpretations, they should be as close to the concept as possible, without falling within the concept—a near non-example.
Converting Examples to Non-Examples
Studies also show that students learn most quickly from continuous conversion of the positive example to the negative example, rather than from discontinuous presentation of separate positive and negative examples. For instance, you could take Congress as the classic example of a representative body but then ask students whether Congress would still be a representative body over states that seceded from the Union. Make your non-examples extensions of your examples. If you cannot make a continuous presentation from example to non-example, then studies show that keeping the context the same for the positive and negative examples aids concept formation. That’s why the Supreme Court might make a good near non-example to Congress as a representative body because they are both U.S. government institutions within similar contexts.
Appreciate the value of these direct-instruction principles. Consider using example / near-non-example worksheets to help students with rigorous concept formation. I made many such worksheets and found them to be enormously helpful in quickly refining student understanding.