Activity . Concepts How do you know that a lion is not a bird but a parrot is? You have already read this in Chapter . Whenever we come across an object or event familiar or unfamiliar, we try to identify the object or event by extracting its characteristics, matching it with the already existing category of objects and events.
For example, when we see an apple, we categorise Fig. .2a : A Map Showing Places Fig. . : The Girl forming a Mental Image it as fruit, when we see a table we categorise it as furniture, when we see a dog we categorise it as an animal, and so on.
When we see a new object, we try to look for its characteristics, match them with characteristics of an existing category, and if matching is perfect we give it the name of that category. For example, while walking on the road you come acr oss an unfamiliar quadruped of a very small size, with a face like a dog, wagging its tail and barking at strangers. You would no doubt identify it as a dog and probably think that it is of a new breed, which you have never seen before. You would also conclude that it would bite strangers.
A concept thus, is a mental representation of a category. It refers to a class of objects, ideas or events that share common properties. Why do we need to form concepts? Concept formation helps us in organising our knowledge so that whenever we need to access our knowledge, we can do it with less time and effort.
It is something similar to what we do to organise our things at home. Children who are very systematic and organised, put their things such as books, note books, pen, pencil, and other accessories in specific places in their cupboard, so that in the morning, they don’t have to struggle to find a particular book or the geometry box. In the library too you have seen books organised as per subject areas and labelled so that you would be able to find them quickly with less effort. Thus, for making our thought process quick and efficient, we form concepts and categorise objects and events.
You can find out how children form concepts by doing Activity . . Take a piece of cardboard and cut triangles, circles, and squares of three different sizes each, small, medium and large. Then colour them yellow.
Similarly prepare a second set and colour them green and a third set and colour them red. Now you have a set of cards varying in shape, size, and colour. Ask a child of five to six years of age to group the similar cards together.