RESEr\RCH IN M,\ I IIEMATI C , .

""'lb s EDucAnoN
u,.zItng " on the role of nonc .xarnplcs (c •Ot, •, I>
r .1cn1on
•_,tilt,·
sm1cp Hc ndcr on, 1974: humwuy &d '\Vhite, 1977): nonexarraP1'cs1977, ha"c
D ,,e .. " cilitotcd learning .Im t 1c pred
way . Despite thcs
8 1ctc
t ahH1 !> " · I .r e results
n no" nrndc to u ratwna, . et oJ examples and non •
referen e examp/f.t

r.
n c
1 rl.:le (1 1 1cm ann, 1969). . .
( ,llu trntc thi cone-cpl. l t us co11s1dcr drawings for a rational set
T
e\,tmp1
, and n1.,nc,umplcs lor the . concept l
of ··square." Suppose lhof
b . . e
dC:1IiI t 'on hl l c u:-,.cd b that a squ nre 1s a r 10m us Wllh a right ang. le N
I • . I
ll Ole •
th I l\\1.) relc,·ant attribute-; of this (con unct 1ve concept must be present
m xampk•.,.· being a rhombus and ha ving a righ t ang le. A rational set
,h uld then mdudc al least two none xamples- sa y, a nonsquare rhombus
and a ,on quare rectangle- tha t systema tica lly omit each of these relevant
attribule (see Figure 2, drawin gs d and e). However. a drawing will in dude
1rrele,ant attribut es suc h a s orientatio n, si ze, and thickness of sides. A
rational set must include eno ugh exa mp le s of these irrelevant attributes for
them to be varied and th us not be acce pted as nece ssary for squareness.
Hence. tilted squares of va ried sizes, and lines of varied thicknessshould be
included as examples. I n addition, Tennyson, Woo lley, and Merrill (1972)
have found evidence to support (a) the matching of an example with a non
example so that their irrelevant attributes are as alike as possible (in our
illustration one square should be nearly the same size as the rhombus,
their sides sho uld be the same thickness, and their orient ations should be
similar, see a-d and b-e in Figure 2), and (b) the pairing of two examples
so that their irreleva nt attributes differ as much as possible (one square
could be tilted, large, and thin-sided; another could have horizontal stdes
and bes mall and thick-s ided: see b-c in Figure 2).

a
□ b C
 I
•·Fgi ure 2. One . d e of
square " rau o nat se t ofe he co11ccP'
· xamp lcs ( a , b, c) and nonexamples (d, e) for t