What are the conceptual and operational definitions?

Initial perceptual naive misconceptions (any age)

Misconceptions

1. Ideas and knowing about things just pop into a person's mind. There is not systematic way to understand, explain, and describe how things work.
2. Living objects have legs and move.

Beginning (preschool - 7 years)

Concepts

1. Living objects grow and reproduce.
2. Operational definition - if it looks like a circle, then it is a circle.
3. A sequence of events might be an operational definition.
4. We can explain how something works by the way it operates.
5. If we know a procedure to make something happen, we can repeat the procedure to make it operation in a similar manner.

Intermediate (7 years - 11 years)

Concepts

1. Operational definition is a list of properties used to describe or identify objects and events.
• If it is living, bares live young, has hair on its body, nurses its young with milk, and is warm blooded, then it is a mammal.
• If it floats in water, it is less dense than water.
2. Operational definitions must repeatedly supply similar results to gain acceptance.
3. Height, weight, and volume can be defined operationally by the process used to measure them.
4. The way a system works can be used to describe and explain what it is.
5. Operational definitions describe how variables change and the outcome they have on a system.

Literate (11+)

Concepts

1. A description that identifies observable properties, steps in a sequence, an interaction, change, process, or other phenomena for explanatory purposes.
2. Operational definition - we can find an objects density by taking its mass and dividing by its volume.
3. Operational definitions tend to be less specific than a theory.
4. When bubbles form and steam comes off the top of the heated water, then we can say it is boiling and its temperature is 100 degrees Celsius or 212 Fahrenheit.
5. There is a difference in knowing how something operates and knowing why it operates the way it does.
6. Operational definitions are concrete, observable, repeatable, and measureable.
7. We can operationalize theoretical ideas like in education by selecting concrete measurable variables like - years of school, scores on ACT, and comparing them to other variables, like yearly salary.

Examples

Bird is an animal that walks on two legs and flies.

Rain is drops of water falling from a cloud in the sky.

Earthworm is an animal that lives underground, is soft and damp to the touch, pinkish in color, and pipe-like in shape.

Organism is any object that grows and reproduces (has babies).

Living - An object is living if it can grow, gets bigger over time, and reproduces, has the ability to create more of its kind.

Weight - The amount of force (pull) the Earth has on objects can be determined with a spring by measuring the length the spring stretches when an object is attached.

Pressure

• Pressure can be determined by a pressure gauge and is often measured in pounds per square inch.
• How hard one object pushes on another object.

Air

• is the mixture of gases that surround the Earth.
• Air is a transparent, odorless, and tasteless gas, it takes up space, can be compressed, has weight, and can be felt when put in motion or is in motion.

Educator notes for operational definition

Preoperational or very young children will use properties or physical characteristics to decribe, define, and operationalize objects and phenomena. However, their descriptions may or may not be relevant or accurate as they are using associations, but the process for choosing them isn't systemic or comprehensively detailed.

To develop more accurate operational definitions numerous experiences or investigations with objects and phenomena are necessary. However, observation and collecting evidence isn't sufficient. As children mature they will develop their reasoning and logical abilities with meaningful questioning and discussion that challenges them beyond their current levels of thinking.

We can see how this happens if we consider the different ways living is understood by students as they grow.

• Living objects move.
• Living objects have legs and move.
• Living objects get big.
• An object is living if it grows bigger over time and reproduces, has the ability to create more of its kind.
• Living objects are plants or animals.
• Living objects are consumers or producers that need energy.
• Living objects use water, food, and other substances to grow, heal, make energy to continue its existance and often make other similar organism.
• Consider living beyond singular organism to include living and growth as cellular and other systems or structures that use water, food, and other substances to grow, heal, make energy to continue its existance within a larger organism.

This is the idea of moving from common knowledge to epistemological knowledge. Another jewel.

Operational definitions can be used to create learning outcomes. Further, if we consider how conceptualization changes as students develop, this provides information to describe outcome levels. Maybe you have been scratching the surface looking for this jewel. Fantastic... Keep scratching it’s there. Some where between the initial idea of living as growth and a concept of living we would hope students would attain, are different levels of understanding and operational definitions to be used to describe outcome levels or levels on a scoring guide or rubric to use to assess progress for understanding living. Wow!