Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education

Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education
Author: Peter J. Aubusson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2006
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781402038297

This book brings together powerful ideas and new developments from internationally recognised scholars and classroom practitioners to provide theoretical and practical knowledge to inform progress in science education. This is achieved through a series of related chapters reporting research on analogy and metaphor in science education. Throughout the book, contributors not only highlight successful applications of analogies and metaphors, but also foreshadow exciting developments for research and practice. Themes include metaphor and analogy: best practice, as reasoning; for learning; applications in teacher development; in science education research; philosophical and theoretical foundations. Accordingly, the book is likely to appeal to a wide audience of science educators –classroom practitioners, student teachers, teacher educators and researchers.

Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education

Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education
Author: Peter J. Aubusson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2006-06-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1402038305

Years ago a primary teacher told me about a great series of lessons she had just had. The class had visited rock pools on the seashore, and when she asked them about their observations they talked about: it was like a factory, it was like a church, it was like a garden, it was like our kitchen at breakfast time, etc. Each student’s analogy could be elaborated, and these analogies provided her with strongly engaged students and a great platform from which to develop their learning about biological diversity and interdependence. In everyday life we learn so many things by comparing and contrasting. The use of analogies and metaphors is important in science itself and their use in teaching science seems a natural extension, but textbooks with their own sparse logic, do not help teachers or students. David Ausubel in the 1960s had advocated the use of ‘advance organisers’ to introduce the teaching of conceptual material in the sciences, and some of these had an analogical character. However, research on the value of this idea was cumbersome and indecisive, and it ceased after just a few studies. In the 1980s research into children’s conceptions of scientific phenomena and concepts really burgeoned, and it was soon followed by an exploration of a new set of pedagogical strategies that recognised a student in a science class is much more than a tabula rasa.

Metaphors & Analogies

Metaphors & Analogies
Author: Rick Wormeli
Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2009
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1571107584

Metaphors show students how to make connections between the concrete and the abstract, prior knowledge and unfamiliar concepts, and language and image. But teachers must learn how to use metaphors and analogies strategically and for specific purposes, helping students discover and deconstruct effective comparisons. Metaphors & Analogies is filled with provocative illustrations of metaphors in action and practical tips.

Understanding Metaphors in the Life Sciences

Understanding Metaphors in the Life Sciences
Author: Andrew S. Reynolds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2022-04-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 110883728X

Introduces the diverse roles metaphors play in the life sciences and highlights their significance for theory, communication, and education.

Narrative and Metaphor in Education

Narrative and Metaphor in Education
Author: Michael Hanne
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 042985997X

Human beings rely equally on narrative (or storytelling) and metaphor (or analogy) for making sense of the world. Narrative and Metaphor in Education integrates the two perspectives of narrative and metaphor in educational theory and practice at every level from pre-school to lifelong civic education. Bringing together outstanding educational researchers, the book interweaves for the first time the rich strand of current research about how narrative may be used productively in education with more fragmentary research on the role of metaphor in education and invites readers to ‘look both ways.’ The book consists of research by 40 academics from many countries and disciplines, describing and analysing the intricate connections between narrative and metaphor as they manifest themselves in many fields of education, including: concepts of education, teacher identity and reflective practice, teaching across cultures, teaching science and history, using digital and visual media in teaching, fostering reconciliation in a postcolonial context, special needs education, civic and social education and educational policy-making. It is unique in combining study of the narrative perspective and the metaphor perspective, and in exploring such a comprehensive range of topics in education. Narrative and Metaphor in Education will be of great interest to academics and researchers in the fields of education and educational policy, as well as teacher educators, practising and future teachers. It will also appeal to psychologists, sociologists, applied linguists and communications specialists.

Multiple Analogies in Science and Philosophy

Multiple Analogies in Science and Philosophy
Author: Cameron Shelley
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2003-07-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027296588

A multiple analogy is a structured comparison in which several sources are likened to a target. In Multiple analogies in science and philosophy, Shelley provides a thorough account of the cognitive representations and processes that participate in multiple analogy formation. Through analysis of real examples taken from the fields of evolutionary biology, archaeology, and Plato's Republic, Shelley argues that multiple analogies are not simply concatenated single analogies but are instead the general form of analogical inference, of which single analogies are a special case. The result is a truly general cognitive model of analogical inference.Shelley also shows how a cognitive account of multiple analogies addresses important philosophical issues such as the confidence that one may have in an analogical explanation, and the role of analogy in science and philosophy. This book lucidly demonstrates that important questions regarding analogical inference cannot be answered adequately by consideration of single analogies alone.

Using Analogies in Middle and Secondary Science Classrooms

Using Analogies in Middle and Secondary Science Classrooms
Author: Allan G. Harrison
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1412913330

When analogies are effective, they readily engage students' interest and clarify difficult and abstract ideas. But not all analogies are created equal, and developing them is not always intuitive. Drawing from an extensive research base on the use of analogies in the classroom, Allan Harrison, Richard K. Coll, and a team of science experts come to the rescue with more than 40 teacher-friendly, ready-to-use analogies for biology, earth and space studies, chemistry, and physics. The rich material shows teachers how and when to select analogies for instruction, why certain analogies work or break down, how to gauge their effectiveness, and how to improve them. Designed to enhance teachers' presentation and interpretation of analogies through focus, action, and reflection (FAR), this guidebook includes: Key science concepts explained through effective models and analogies, Research findings on the use of analogies and their motivational impact, Guidelines that allow teachers and students to develop their own analogies, Numerous visual aids, science vignettes, and anecdotes to support the use of analogies. Linked to NSTA standards, Using Analogies in Middle and Secondary Science Classrooms will become a much-used resource by teachers who want to enrich inquiry-based science instruction. Book jacket.

The Analogical Mind

The Analogical Mind
Author: Dedre Gentner
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2001-03-02
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780262571395

Analogy has been the focus of extensive research in cognitive science over the past two decades. Through analogy, novel situations and problems can be understood in terms of familiar ones. Indeed, a case can be made for analogical processing as the very core of cognition. This is the first book to span the full range of disciplines concerned with analogy. Its contributors represent cognitive, developmental, and comparative psychology; neuroscience; artificial intelligence; linguistics; and philosophy. The book is divided into three parts. The first part describes computational models of analogy as well as their relation to computational models of other cognitive processes. The second part addresses the role of analogy in a wide range of cognitive tasks, such as forming complex cognitive structures, conveying emotion, making decisions, and solving problems. The third part looks at the development of analogy in children and the possible use of analogy in nonhuman primates. Contributors Miriam Bassok, Consuelo B. Boronat, Brian Bowdle, Fintan Costello, Kevin Dunbar, Gilles Fauconnier, Kenneth D. Forbus, Dedre Gentner, Usha Goswami, Brett Gray, Graeme S. Halford, Douglas Hofstadter, Keith J. Holyoak, John E. Hummel, Mark T. Keane, Boicho N. Kokinov, Arthur B. Markman, C. Page Moreau, David L. Oden, Alexander A. Petrov, Steven Phillips, David Premack, Cameron Shelley, Paul Thagard, Roger K.R. Thompson, William H. Wilson, Phillip Wolff

Mathematical Reasoning

Mathematical Reasoning
Author: Lyn D. English
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2013-04-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136491147

How we reason with mathematical ideas continues to be a fascinating and challenging topic of research--particularly with the rapid and diverse developments in the field of cognitive science that have taken place in recent years. Because it draws on multiple disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, and anthropology, cognitive science provides rich scope for addressing issues that are at the core of mathematical learning. Drawing upon the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive science, this book presents a broadened perspective on mathematics and mathematical reasoning. It represents a move away from the traditional notion of reasoning as "abstract" and "disembodied", to the contemporary view that it is "embodied" and "imaginative." From this perspective, mathematical reasoning involves reasoning with structures that emerge from our bodily experiences as we interact with the environment; these structures extend beyond finitary propositional representations. Mathematical reasoning is imaginative in the sense that it utilizes a number of powerful, illuminating devices that structure these concrete experiences and transform them into models for abstract thought. These "thinking tools"--analogy, metaphor, metonymy, and imagery--play an important role in mathematical reasoning, as the chapters in this book demonstrate, yet their potential for enhancing learning in the domain has received little recognition. This book is an attempt to fill this void. Drawing upon backgrounds in mathematics education, educational psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science, the chapter authors provide a rich and comprehensive analysis of mathematical reasoning. New and exciting perspectives are presented on the nature of mathematics (e.g., "mind-based mathematics"), on the array of powerful cognitive tools for reasoning (e.g., "analogy and metaphor"), and on the different ways these tools can facilitate mathematical reasoning. Examples are drawn from the reasoning of the preschool child to that of the adult learner.