Research+Base_Rationale

=Two Lines of Research Support The Use of Metaphors as a Teaching Strategy=



Source: Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works. Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development


 * 1) Comparing
 * 2) Classifying
 * 3) Metaphors/analogies


 * 1) Providing “. . . explicit guidance in identifying similarities & difference” enhances learners’ “ . . . understanding of and ability to use knowledge” (p. 15).
 * 2) Having learners’ “. . . independently identify similarities & differences enhances learners understanding of & ability to use knowledge” (p. 16).
 * 3) “Representing similarities & differences in a graphic or symbolic form enhances” learners’ “. . . understanding of & ability to use knowledge” (p. 16).
 * 4) “Identification of similarities & differences can be done” in a variety of ways and is a “. . . highly robust activity” (p. 16

Source:
 * 1) Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
 * 2) Kovecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor. A practical introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

1. human thought processes are largely metaphorical 2. metaphor is pervasive in everyday life. . . part of our conceptual system

Implication for teachers --> seems that the brain is set up to process ideas/experiences in this way.


 * Common Target and Source Domains (from Kovecses, Z., 2002)**


 * Common Target Domains** (are abstract, diffuse and lack clear dileneation, . . . "cry out" for metaphorical conceptualization)


 * < Emotion ||< Desire ||< Morality ||
 * < Thought ||< Society/nation ||< Politics ||
 * < Economy ||< Human Relationships ||< Communication ||
 * < Time ||< Life and Death ||< Religion ||
 * < Events and Action ||< ||< ||
 * Common Source Domains** (Where the metaphorical expresssion comes from to understand the target domain)

(business) || Cooking & food ||
 * Human Body || Health and Illness || Animals ||
 * Plants || Buildings &Construction || Machines & tools ||
 * Games and sport || Money &economic transactions
 * Heat & cold || Light & darkness || Forces ||
 * Movement & direction || ||  ||