How to learn a whatsit

This was going to be about learning a concept, but psychology tends to take a limited view of that term. This line of thinking grows out of vocabulary building, mainly of the technical kind. Students generally have to master a technical vocabulary in a course. They might treat this task as in the badlands, so I am looking for ways they could handle the job.

I see two possible problems in this context. One lies in confusion among the terms. If the terms are similar, some attention to discrimination learning may be needed. The other problem lies in an inadequate development of the mental representation that mediates the denotation of the term. Since I don’t know a simple term for what I just said, I will refer to that mental representation as the McGuffin, following Alfred Hitchcock.

I think it is clear that the McGuffin must be developed before vocabulary learning can be completed. Technical presentation may not follow that order. Some students may not have good ways to evaluate how well they have developed the McGuffin for a term. Such students may fall back on memorizing a definition, a process that would obscure the problem without solving it. Thus we probably need to look for clues to direct the student to McGuffin learning.

We would want to treat McGuffin learning itself in a separate area. There are several different kinds of McGuffins. I will list them here, along with relevant features that might later serve in organizing the presentation.

Simple concept. Behavior: Correctly assign instances and counter instances in and out of the class. Varies by relevant dimensions and precision of observation.

Taxonomic concepts. Behavior: As with simple concept, but add: Be able to name superset, sibling sets, and subsets; be able to give criteria for membership in all these sets.

Static graphic. Example: geographic map. Cue: Text presents graphic. Behavior: derive inferences from the graphic as related to context. Note: Learning may require practice in deriving inferences. Potential problems: persistence of attention, evaluation of mastery. May benefit from conversion to process. See also relational descriptors below.

Dynamic graphic. Example: Circulatory system. Cue: Text presents graphic with narrative (story of what happens) and/or arrows on graphic. Behavior: Describe the dynamic process. Derive inferences from the dynamic process.

Narrated process. Example: How to measure blood pressure. Cue: Text presents several steps. Behavior: Physically replicate the process. On paper, locate an step by citing steps before and after. Cite error checks and proper corrections.

Relational descriptors. Example: anterior-posterior (in anatomy). Cue: graphic display, lack of meaning out of relational context. Behavior: use the term appropriately in context. Distinguish appropriate from inappropriate use.