Student-Generated Analogies/Metaphors in Explanations of Scientific Phenomena : The Nature of Content Selection and Usage

Abstract

This study concerns the nature of the analogies and metaphors used by secondary-level students in their explanations of the temperature of melting ice. The process the students followed to construct their explanations, the role of analogies and metaphors in that process, and the tendency to select the base-domain of analogies and metaphors, were examined. The teacher's question, which included the target situation and premises, was modified by reducing, simplifying, and altering elements of that situation and those premises. The transformation process-common among experts-constituted the processes of restatement and analogical reasoning. Through this process, the teacher's question was simplified to facilitate the students' ability to answer; however, this restricted the range of explanations. As a result, the students' explanations often became biased or inconsistent. Some of the students' analogies and metaphors were often incorporated into the explanations. While the students reached the same conclusion in spite of selecting a different base-domain, a base-domain used to explain one idea was never used to explain another idea. This tendency revealed that the students selected the near-distance domain as their base-domain more often than the far-distance domain, even if both domains were familiar. However, despite the use of analogies or metaphors, the students arrived at the same conclusions. The students' explanations should have been focused not only on conclusions, but also on the process followed to construct their explanations. The constructions of the explanations differed considerably from semantic and pragmatic perspectives; that is, the same conclusion did not always represent the same reasoning process, which included the recognition of a question and the construction of an explanation. In addition, the students' analogies and metaphors performed various functions in their explanations: generalizing the patterns or regularities of a phenomenon by relating it to another similar phenomenon; introducing new explanatory factors (some relationships or properties, etc.) into their explanations, and organizing their prior knowledge and experiences.