What is a slippery word or concept?

Slippery words usually describe big concepts with hard-to-pin-down definitions. What is a slippery word?

Slippery words:

    • are defined or interpreted differently by individuals or groups; change according to one’s viewpoint
    • often reflect common misconceptions about the meaning of a word
    • are understood unclearly, inexactly or imperfectly by many people (but most people won’t admit they don’t really know what a slippery word means)
    • are often overused and applied to so many different situations that they can mean everything or nothing
    • shift in meaning over time, place, and culture
    • can be specific or broad, depending on the context

The literal dictionary definition of slippery is “difficult to hold or to stand or move on.” Fish are slippery because they are hard to hold on to. Ice is slippery because it is difficult to walk on. Slippery words and concepts are also hard to hold on to. A “slippery slope” is a figurative expression describing an idea or plan of action leading to unacceptable, dangerous or wrong results.1 If a conversation, lesson, or instructional unit is built upon slippery words, understanding and learning slither down a slippery slope.

Why teach about slippery concepts?

Slippery concepts are cornerstones of the history and social studies curriculum. For example, lessons on the Enlightenment, French Revolution, American history, and politics all depend upon a concise student understanding of the extremely slippery words liberal and conservative. Current events, history, economics, and politics are built upon the concepts of capitalist, socialist, and communist. Social history lessons also are built upon slippery words such as family or home. Yet uses of these words in modern media indicate many people misunderstand the meanings, and many more take advantage of those misconceptions.

Concept is defined as 1. “an abstract or generic idea generalized from particular instances” or 2. “something conceived in the mind.” Concept development activities help merge these two aspects of a concept in an organized and informative way. The diverse interpretations of many individuals are discussed and synthesized with academic evidence into a common understanding. Big social studies concepts like liberal, conservative, or family are examples of “an abstract or generic idea.” Our minds are also full of uniquely individual thoughts or ideas “conceived in our minds,” the second definition. Concept development activities help us merge the larger meaning of a word or concept with our individual perceptions. Students brainstorm their individual “thoughts and ideas,” and examine the “thoughts and ideas” of other students related to a key concept. Then, students relate these diverse “thoughts and ideas” to the key concept by categorizing and analyzing them in a systematic manner.

In the concept development activity below, students identify misconceptions, recognize the shifting meanings of a word/concept, learn to define a key concept accurately, and develop a better understanding of how to use language precisely. They also recognize how words are misunderstood, misinterpreted, and used to mislead.

The Steps of Concept Development2

    1. Choose a key concept important throughout multiple lessons or units of study. The teacher must research and construct an in-depth and precise definition based upon reliable sources in advance, even though this will not be shared with students until the end of the activity.
    2. List as many items as possible associated with the key concept. Tell students to brainstorm as many ideas, objects, phrases, or words as possible. Students lists might originate from direct knowledge of the student, information gleaned from family or media, or misconceptions associated with the concept.
    3. Students brainstorm words related to a key concept and sort the words into categories. Each group of students will decide upon different category titles and describe varying rationales for those categories.

      Group the items that are alike. In this step, students categorize the different words and phrases. The teacher does not provide categories. Students, in pairs or small groups, analyze their lists of words and agree upon appropriate category titles. Remind students they must be able to explain the rationale behind their category titles and choices.

    4. Ask students to share the categories they created and explain the rationale behind various categories. Question and compare and contrast the organizational structure and rationale of the various groups. Clarify misconceptions when necessary.
    5. Direct students to consider how they might regroup the original words/phrases. For example, the teacher might ask if any of the categories could become subcategories and why? Or the teacher could provide two or three completely different categories for reorganizing the words/ideas.
    6. Synthesize and form generalizations about the concept. Ask students to construct a working definition of the concept. The teacher must clarify when needed to prevent misconceptions and relate the formal definition if students don’t discern it by themselves. (In other words, inquiry learning partners with direct instruction for successful learning.) Even slippery concepts have agreed upon scholarly meanings that students should know.

Example of Concept Development using the slippery concept family

    1. Display the word family and ask students to individually brainstorm a list of words and short phrases related to family. Explain to the students these lists will be used in an activity on the following day. Gather, compile, and edit the lists so words and phrases are not repeated. Excel is excellent for sorting because words can be sorted and easily edited.
    2. concept development activity demonstrated
      In this concept development activity, students explore how their perceptions of the “slippery” concept or family vary between individual students, cultures, and compare it with formal and scholarly definitions of the word.

      On the following day, distribute the lists of words and phrases to pairs or small groups of students. Instruct students to cut the words and phrases apart and reassemble them in categories. Do not provide names of categories; explain to the students that they must decide what categories are the most appropriate. Provide blank slips of colored paper for category labels.

    3. After the words have been sorted into categories, ask groups to share the categories they created and explain why they placed various words or phrases in the categories. Next, ask students to consider how they might regroup the original words/phrases and discuss the rationale. Then explain the meanings of subjective and objective. For example, objective words have fact-based definitions everyone can agree upon. Subjective words are interpreted differently by different people and involve individual emotions or feelings. Then ask students to sort the words in each of their categories into subcategories labeled subjective and objective.
    4. Finally, ask student groups to construct a working definition of family. Share and discuss. Clarify misconceptions and add additional information if needed. For example, ask students if their definitions of family reflect only 21st-century families or if these descriptions also apply to families in previous historical eras.

In conclusion

The Greek historian Herodotus in his quest for historical knowledge said he was “not contented with a slippery knowledge, but moored with desire to learn the truth.” 3 We must follow his example.

About the header image: March 1937 photograph by Dorothea Lange. Four families with 15 children are fleeing the Texas Dust Bowl in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria, California. Courtesy of Library of Congress.

Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social StudiesTo learn more:

 

Footnotes

  1. “slippery, adj.” OED Online.
  2. Mary Alice Gunter, Thomas H. Estes, and Jan Schwab, Instruction: A Models Approach 3rd ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999), Chapter 6, 101-121.
  3. The famous hystory of Herodotus Conteyning the discourse of dyuers countreys (1584).