The first process focuses on examining examples and non-examples. Each successive example or non.-example reinforces the hypothesis or alters it to make it more exact. Eventually, students develop a rule for distinguishing examples from non-examples. The second process involves selecting an item from an unlabelled group and questioning an authority to determine if it is an example or not. Through examining the attributes of the examples, a hypothesis is made.
Students select additional items in order to test and refine the hypothesis.
This process results in a rule for identifying the concept. In the first example, students were using a reception process of concept attainment in which the items were labeled as examples and non-examples. In the second example, which uses a selection process, unlabelled samples were presented and students had to determine if they were examples or non-examples through questioning, selecting more examples, testing the hypothesis and formulating a rule. Both processes described previously illustrate an inductive approach to concept attainment. Examples and non-examples are introduced and students discover critical attributes which in turn lead to the discovery of a rule or definition of the concept which includes the critical attributes and their relationships.