ERIC Number: EJ1039292
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Aug
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0157-244X
EISSN: N/A
Science Teachers' Analogical Reasoning
Mozzer, Nilmara Braga; Justi, Rosária
Research in Science Education, v43 n4 p1689-1713 Aug 2013
Analogies can play a relevant role in students' learning. However, for the effective use of analogies, teachers should not only have a well-prepared repertoire of validated analogies, which could serve as bridges between the students' prior knowledge and the scientific knowledge they desire them to understand, but also know how to introduce analogies in their lessons. Both aspects have been discussed in the literature in the last few decades. However, almost nothing is known about "how teachers draw their own analogies for instructional purposes" or, in other words, about "how they reason analogically when planning and conducting teaching". This is the focus of this paper. Six secondary teachers were individually interviewed; the aim was to characterize how they perform each of the analogical reasoning subprocesses, as well as to identify their views on analogies and their use in science teaching. The results were analyzed by considering elements of both theories about analogical reasoning: the structural mapping proposed by Gentner and the analogical mechanism described by Vosniadou. A comprehensive discussion of our results makes it evident that teachers' content knowledge on scientific topics and on analogies as well as their pedagogical content knowledge on the use of analogies influence all their analogical reasoning subprocesses. Our results also point to the need for improving teachers' knowledge about analogies and their ability to perform analogical reasoning.
Descriptors: Science Teachers, Thinking Skills, Science Instruction, Role, Instructional Effectiveness, Teaching Methods, Teacher Attitudes, Secondary School Teachers, Interviews, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Logical Thinking
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A