Abstract

Instructional strategies for successfully teaching concepts are found throughout the instructional design literature. These strategies primarily consist of presenting learners with definitions, examples, and non-examples. While examples are important presentation instruments, theorist suggests that examples should not be re-used in the assessment phase of instruction. The rationale being that encountered examples could be memorized thus activating different cognitive processes than those required for concept attainment. Consequently, test items referring to encountered examples may have less value in assisting evaluators in discerning whether or not a learner has attained a target concept. In this study test items consisting of encountered examples and un-encountered examples were examined. There appears to be evidence supporting the notion that examples are not sufficient discriminators for judging a learner’s level of concept attainment.