Why Use Analogies?

In their most simple form, analogies are mental models which compare two domains of knowledge, one which is familiar and one which is not.  They are said to play a significant role in human problem-solving, communication, and creativity in some of the following ways:

•  Analogies help learners organize information or view information from a new perspective.

• Analogies may help students visualize abstract concepts, orders of magnitude, or unobservable phenomena. When they do this, they provide a concrete reference that students can use when thinking about challenging, abstract information.

• Analogies can play a motivational role in meaningful learning as a result of enhancing student engagement and interaction with a topic.  Some research suggests that students are three to four times more likely to pay attention to the familiar language of an analogy than they are unfamiliar, technical language.   

• Analogies can help students recognize errors in conceptions they currently hold, reject those conceptions, and adopt new conceptions that are in line with the target discipline. 

How To Use Analogies in Instruction

A survey of the research describing best practices suggests that the most effective use of analogy involves a systematic mapping of the analog (the familiar concept) to the target (the unfamiliar concept) whereby verbal and imagery processes are active.  These strategically-implemented, “elaborate” and “extended” analogies support instructional scaffolding which promotes student execution at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. 

The literature reflects several methods which have been investigated and optimized as best practices for the inclusion of analogies in science instruction.  Glynn described a five-step approach in “Teaching with Analogy”; Coll’s “FAR (Focus, Action, Reflection) Guide” built upon Glynn’s framework by emphasizing the teachers’ role in development and implementation; Orgill and Thomas designed the “5E Model” to complement student-centered learning strategies.  All of these approaches recognize and emphasize the importance of choosing analogs which are novel or visual, familiar to students, and directly relate to their everyday experiences.  In practice, they agree that four elements must be included in instruction to ensure analogies support learning and enhanced interest while avoiding conceptual misconceptions:

1. Students’ prior knowledge of the analog must be activated.

2. Similar features between them must be clearly mapped according to Figure 1.

3. Ways in which the analog and target are not similar must also be emphasized in the extended map.

4. Conclusions about the target must be summarized.

Using Analogies to Teach Chemistry in a Virtual Classroom

The results of research on whether analogies are beneficial in science education are ambiguous, with some reporting beneficial outcomes and others reporting that the use of analogies had little or no effect on learning. There have been no reports of the application of analogy in virtual science classrooms or programs.

The intent of this research has been to invoke instructional best practices in the use of mapped analogy toward enhancing the understanding of fundamental concepts among students in a standards-driven, secondary chemistry course which meets for synchronous instruction in a virtual space.  An evaluation of the effectiveness of these analogies and their implementation was determined from standards-based assessment items on unit quizzes and tests, as well as the results of student surveys which focused on perceived effectiveness and the ability for analogies to enhance interest.