In recent years, there has been extensive research in student learning and teaching practice in such areas as cognitive psychology, learning theory and teaching strategies. Effective instruction can be learned and defined and it is an art as well as a science. There are four areas of thinking to which instruction is directed: knowledge acquisition, cognitive processes, metacognitive processes and the self-system (dispositions). Within this framework, there are many instructional practices that can focus on engaging the different types of thinking. An instructional cycle should engage all four types of thinking in students as teachers use instructional practices in sequence or in tandem. It is important that teachers encourage students to become autonomous learners. A part of the Powerful Instructional Practices Series, this program on concept formation is introduced by Ian Krips, Associate Director of Saskatchewan Professional Development Unit (SPDU): Professional Growth Partnerships. Krips explains that concept formation is an inductive thinking process that encourages students to organize information by categorizing based on common attributes and that this practice helps students to assume greater control over data collection, classification and analysis. Krips informs viewers that the primary focus of this practice is to develop cognitive processes and thinking capacity in students, which leads to meaningful learning and deeper understanding. He then outlines the three phases of concept formation: generate data, group the data and begin to develop classifications and build hypotheses and generate skills and/or applications from the data. Two classroom examples are given: one in a Grade 10 accounting class that is identifying various categories of businesses and one in a Grade 10 social studies class that is categorizing political cartoons according to captions, size, symbols and caricature. More information on concept formation and other instructional practices can be found in the document entitled Powerful Instructional Practices: A Resource for Teachers and Administrators.