Teachers as role models: Are there gender differences in microcomputer-based mathematics and science instruction?

This study examines whether male and female teachers differ in (a) their background or training for instructional uses of microcomputers and (b) their uses of microcomputers to teach mathematics and science. Research carried out in 60 classrooms, 49 schools, and 25 districts in California provided data on district and school microcomputer policies; classroom contexts; and teachers' characteristics, instructional decisions, and practices. A secondary analysis of these data indicated that district and school characteristics and classroom organization and composition did not differ, by and large, among male and female teachers. Furthermore, gender was unrelated to teachers' subject matter and computer knowledge, patterns of microcomputer-based instruction, and instructional decisions and practices. Both female and male teachers provide leadership in the microcomputer movement, have the relevant training and experience which contributes to microcomputer use, use microcomputers for instruction in a variety of ways, and present equally viable role models.Funded by the National Institute of Education (NIE), this study was restricted to California for budgetary reasons. Nevertheless, California appears to be representative of microcomputer use in other leading states (Chambers & Bork, 1980).     

Analogy use in naturalistic settings: the influence of audience, emotion, and goals

The ways in which analogy was used in a nonexperimental environment-politics-was investigated. We used the framework developed in analogy research to analyze the selection of analogical sources in political discourse. We took all the analogies reported in newspapers during the final week of a referendum campaign in Canada and analyzed the features of the different analogies used. We identified 234 analogies and analyzed the range over which analogies were used, semantic categories of analogies, goals of the analogizer, and emotional connotation of the analogies. Our results reveal that analogy was frequently used, that over two-thirds of the analogical sources were nonpolitical, and that many of the sources had strong emotional connotations. Furthermore, the goal of the analogizer influenced the selection of sources. We conclude that characteristics of the audience and emotionality of the source analog are important features in the selection of source analogs.     

Orthographic analogy use and phonological priming effects in non-word reading

The orthographic analogy effect for rime-based analogies has been debated, and theoretical arguments relating to the role of rhyme awareness in reading development have been questioned. This study assessed whether children beginning to read are able to make genuine orthographic analogies based on rime similarity. A non-word version of the clue word task was used to compare children’s performance at reading orthographically and phonologically similar target items and phonologically similar items only. They were also assessed on their ability to make analogies between the beginnings and endings of words. The results were consistent with the suggestion that orthographic analogy use is available to beginning readers as a reading strategy, and that rime-based analogies are easier to make than analogies at the beginning of words. However, rhyme awareness was found to account for variance in orthographic analogy use between the beginnings of words, but not for rime-based analogies. The implications of this for the theoretical role of rhyme awareness in reading development are discussed.     

Individual differences in the preference for worked examples: Lessons from an application of dispositional learning analytics

Worked-examples have been established as an effective instructional format in problem-solving practices. However, less is known about variations in the use of worked examples across individuals at different stages in their learning process in student-centred learning contexts. This study investigates different profiles of students' learning behaviours based on clustering learning dispositions, prior knowledge, and the choice of feedback strategies in a naturalistic setting. The study was conducted on 1,072 students over an 8-week long introductory mathematics course in a blended instructional format. While practising exercises in a digital learning environment, students can opt for tutored problem solving, untutored problem solving, or call worked examples. The results indicated six distinct profiles of learners regarding their feedback preferences in different learning phases. Finally, we investigated antecedents and consequences of these profiles and investigated the adequacy of used feedback strategies concerning ‘help-abuse’. This research indicates that the use of instructional scaffolds as worked-examples or hints and the efficiency of that use differs from student to student, making the attempt to find patterns at an overall level a hazardous endeavour.     

The force of dissimilar analogies in bioethics

Although analogical reasoning has long been a popular method of reasoning in bioethics, current literature does not sufficiently grasp its variety. We assert that the main shortcoming is the fact that an analogy’s value is often judged on the extent of similarity between the source situation and the target situation, while in (bio)ethics, analogies are often used because of certain dissimilarities rather than in spite of them. We make a clear distinction between dissimilarities that aim to reinforce a similar approach in the source situation and the target situation and dissimilarities that aim to undermine or denounce a similar approach. The former kind of dissimilarity offers the analogy more normative force than if there were no dissimilarities present; this is often overlooked by authors who regard all relevant dissimilarities as detrimental to the analogy’s strength. Another observation is that an evaluation of the normative force of an analogy cannot be made independently of moral principles or theories. Without these, one cannot select which elements in an analogy are morally relevant nor determine how they should be interpreted.     

THROUGH A DIFFERENT LENS: RETHINKING THE ROLE OF SEXUAL DIFFERENCE IN THE THEOLOGY OF HANS URS VON BALTHASAR

Sexual difference plays a pivotal role in Balthasar's thought, as an analogy for the Trinity and as an analogy for the relation between Christ and the church. This essay examines the influence of the analogy of being on his interpretations of these analogies, his understanding of created masculinity, and his use of the language of sexual difference for the Holy Spirit. Ultimately many of Balthasar's best insights about human love as an analogy for divine love can be retained without connecting femininity uniquely with creation, and his trinitarian theology provides the best interpretive key for doing so.     

Approximate Semantic Transference: A Computational Theory of Metaphors and Analogies

In this paper we start from the assumption that in a metaphor, or an analogy, some terms belonging to one domain (source domain) are used to refer to objects other than their conventional referents belonging to a possibly different domain (target domain). We describe a formalism, which is based on the First Order Predicate Calculus, for representing the knowledge structure associated with a domain and then develop a theory of Constrained Semantic Transference [CST] which allows the terms and the structural relationships of the source domain to be transferred coherently across to the target domain. We show how metaphors and analogies can be characterized in CST in such a way that many of their cognitive properties con be explained. We then propose a theory of Approximate Semantic Transference [AST] which is a computational version of CST and is derived from it by replacing the coherency requirement with approximate coherency. We show how AST can be used as a basis for designing models of cognitive processes involved in comprehending metaphors and analogies.     

The Impact of Analogies on Creative Concept Generation: Lessons From an In Vivo Study in Engineering Design

Research on innovation often highlights analogies from sources outside the current problem domain as a major source of novel concepts; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not well understood. We analyzed the temporal interplay between far analogy use and creative concept generation in a professional design team's brainstorming conversations, investigating the hypothesis that far analogies lead directly to very novel concepts via large steps in conceptual spaces (jumps). Surprisingly, we found that concepts were more similar to their preceding concepts after far analogy use compared to baseline situations (i.e., without far analogy use). Yet far analogies increased the team's concept generation rate compared to baseline conditions. Overall, these results challenge the view that far analogies primarily lead to novel concepts via jumps in conceptual spaces and suggest alternative pathways from far analogies to novel concepts (e.g., iterative, deep exploration within a functional space).     

Individual Characteristics of Political Leaders and the Use of Analogy in Foreign Policy Decision Making

The linkages between individual characteristics of political leaders and their usage of historical analogy during foreign policy decision-making episodes were examined. The individual characteristics studied were conceptual complexity and policy expertise, while usage of analogy was studied in terms of the sophistication and source of historical comparisons. The great majority of the analogies used by low-complexity individuals were nonsophisticated, whereas high-complexity individuals consistently used more sophisticated analogies. Low-complexity individuals drew analogies solely from their own generational and cultural context, while high-complexity leaders drew their analogies from a wider range of sources. More expert leaders drew from their personal experiences to a marginally greater degree than less expert individuals but, interestingly, both types of individual relied on generally available rather than personally experienced events for their analogies. The value added of the approach is to demonstrate that different types of leaders use history differently during political decision making.     

How analogies are generated: The roles of structural and superficial similarity

Laboratory studies of analogical reasoning have shown that subjects are mostly influenced by superficial similarity in the retrieval of source analogs. However, real-world investigations have demonstrated that people generate analogies using deep structural features. We conducted three experiments to determine why laboratory and real-world studies have yielded different results. In the first two experiments, we used a "production paradigm" in which subjects were asked to generate sources for a given target. Results show that the majority of the analogies that were generated displayed low levels of superficial similarity with the target problem. Moreover, most of the analogies were based on complex underlying structures. The third experiment used a "reception paradigm" methodology. The subjects had to retrieve predetermined sources instead of generate their own. In this case, retrieval was largely constrained by surface similarity. We conclude that people can use structural relations when given an appropriate task and that this ability has been underestimated in previous research on analogy.     

Similarity and causality in the use of social analogies

The present paper examines whether causal relations are necessary for the use of social analogies. Although causal relations increase the use of social analogies, it is not known whether they are necessary. Establishing this is important for understanding both analogical reasoning and learning in novel situations where people lack knowledge of the causal relations. Study 1 demonstrated that, in the absence of an explicit causal relation, as the similarity between a target individual and a previously encountered individual (the base) increased, people thought the target was increasingly likely to perform the same behavior as the base. Thus, a causal relation is not necessary. Two additional studies used asymmetries in similarity judgments to provide additional evidence that when reasoning analogically people relied on similarity. Manipulating whether subjects focused primarily on the target or the base completely reversed asymmetries both in judgments of how similar the target was to the base and in predictions of how likely the target was to perform the same behavior as the base. The asymmetries for similarity and prediction were completely parallel. Thus, in the absence of an explicit causal relation, use of the analogy was based on judgments of global similarity. The implications of these asymmetries in similarity judgments and predictions for other judgments, such as stereotyping, are also discussed.     

Morality is Not Like Mathematics: The Weakness of the Math‐Moral Analogy

In both the early modern period and in contemporary debates, philosophers have argued that there are analogies between mathematics and morality that imply that the ontology and epistemology of morality are crucially similar to the ontology and epistemology of mathematics. I describe arguments for the math‐moral analogy in four early modern philosophers (Locke, Cudworth, Clarke, and Balguy) and in three contemporary philosophers (Clarke‐Doane, Peacocke, and Roberts). I argue that these arguments fail to establish important ontological and epistemological similarities between morality and mathematics. There are analogies between the two areas, but the disanalogies are more significant, undermining the attempt to confer on morality the same ontological and epistemological status that mathematics possesses.     

Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy

A theory of analogy must describe how the meaning of an analogy is derived from the meanings of its parts. In the structure-mapping theory, the interpretation rules are characterized as implicit rules for mapping knowledge about a base domain into a target domain. Two important features of the theory are (a) the rules depend only on syntactic properties of the knowledge representation, and not on the specific content of the domains; and (b) the theoretical framework allows analogies to be distinguished cleanly from literal similarity statements, applications of abstractions, and other kinds of comparisons. Two mapping principles are described: (a) Relations between objects, rather than attributes of objects, are mapped from base to target; and (b) The particular relations mapped are determined by systematicity, as defined by the existence of higher-order relations.     

Analogical Mapping by Constraint Satisfaction

A theory of analogical mapping between source and target analogs based upon interacting structural, semantic, and pragmatic constraints is proposed here. The structural constraint of isomorphism encourages mappings that maximize the consistency of relational corresondences between the elements of the two analogs. The constraint of semantic similarity supports mapping hypotheses to the degree that mapped predicates have similar meanings. The constraint of pragmatic centrality favors mappings involving elements the analogist believes to be important in order to achieve the purpose for which the analogy is being used. The theory is implemented in a computer program called ACME (Analogical Constraint Mapping Engine), which represents constraints by means of a network of supporting and competing hypotheses regarding what elements to map. A cooperative algorithm for parallel constraint satisfaction identities mapping hypotheses that collectively represent the overall mapping that best fits the interacting constraints. ACME has been applied to a wide range of examples that include problem analogies, analogical arguments, explanatory analogies, story analogies, formal analogies, and metaphors. ACME is sensitive to semantic and pragmatic information if it is available, and yet able to compute mappings between formally isomorphic analogs without any similar or identical elements. The theory is able to account for empirical findings regarding the impact of consistency and similarity on human processing of analogies.     

Phonological priming and orthographic analogies in reading

Recent work has demonstrated that children can use orthographic analogies between the spelling patterns in words to help in decoding new words (e.g., using beak to read peak; Goswami, 1986, 1988). However, one objection has been that these analogy effects may be due to phonological priming. Two experiments examined the phonological priming alternative. In Experiment 1, a single word reading task compared the use of analogies to read words that shared both orthography and phonology (e.g., most-post), that shared orthography only (e.g., most-cost), or that shared phonology only (e.g. most-toast--the phonological priming condition). Limited effects of phonological priming were found. Experiment 2 then presented the same words embedded in prose passages--"real reading." While the orthographic analogy effect remained robust, the small phonological priming effect disappeared. It is argued that phonological priming is an insufficient explanation of the analogy effect at the single word level, and plays no role in the use of analogies in story reading.     

Solving geometric analogy problems through two-stage analogical mapping

Evans' 1968 ANALOGY system was the first computer model of analogy. This paper demonstrates that the structure mapping model of analogy, when combined with high-level visual processing and qualitative representations, can solve the same kinds of geometric analogy problems as were solved by ANALOGY. Importantly, the bulk of the computations are not particular to the model of this task but are general purpose: We use our existing sketch understanding system, CogSketch, to compute visual structure that is used by our existing analogical matcher, Structure Mapping Engine (SME). We show how SME can be used to facilitate high-level visual matching, proposing a role for structural alignment in mental rotation. We show how second-order analogies over differences computed via analogies between pictures provide a more elegant model of the geometric analogy task. We compare our model against human data on a set of problems, showing that the model aligns well with both the answers chosen by people and the reaction times required to choose the answers.     

Li in East Asian Buddhism: One Approach from Plato's Parmenides

In Plato's Parmenides, Socrates proposes a ‘Day’ analogy to express one possible model of part/whole relations. His analogy is swiftly rejected and replaced with another analogy, that of the ‘Sail’. In this paper, it is argued that there is a profound difference between these two analogies and that the ‘Day’ represents a distinct way to think about part/whole relations. This way of thinking, I argue, is the standard way of thinking in East Asian Buddhism. Plato's ‘Day’ analogy can then be used to illuminate the meaning of an opaque but very important concept in East Asian Buddhism: li, which in this paper is developed as a modal concept of ‘Wholeness’.     

The cosmic lottery

One version of the argument for design relies on the assumption that the apparent fine-tuning of the universe for the existence of life requires an explanation. I argue that the assumption is false. Philosophers who argue for the assumption usually appeal to analogies, such as the one in which a person was to draw a particular straw among a very large number of straws in order not to be killed. Philosophers on the other side appeal to analogies like the case of winning a lottery. I analyze the two analogies and explain why the lottery analogy is the right one to use. In the light of such an analysis, we can see that although the cosmic feature of being life-permitting is rare, it does not allow life-permitting possible universes to stand out because there are other rare cosmic features that other possible universes have.     

Cognitive psychology and modern physics: Some analogies

Abstract

Patterns in physics and psychology are often related. This paper examines such relations on two levels. First, a survey is made of the various possible relations between physics and psychology and, secondly, a series of analogies between patterns in modern physics and cognition is presented. The analogies pertain both to the theory of relativity (both special and general) and to quantum mechanics. While the different analogies noted are argued for independently from one another, together they do present some unified patterns. It is argued that the analogies may be useful in opening up avenues for new conceptual bameworks in psychology. In particular, they are linked to a possible critique of the representational view of mind.     

Instructional Analogies and Elaborations in Science Text: Effects on Recall and Transfer Performance

Abstract

The present studies compared the recall and transfer performance of subjects receiving an extended instructional analogy or elaborations in science text presenting the basic anatomy and physiology of the human eye. In Experiment 1, the analogy group performed better at far transfer and less well at intermediate transfer. No differences between groups were observed for explanative recall or nonexplanative recall. In Experiment 2, a within subjects design, both groups excelled on near and intermediate transfer corresponding to the first half of the text, and on far transfer corresponding to the second half of the text. As in Experiment 1, no differences emerged between groups on explanative or nonexplanative recall. Implications for design of transfer items and science text materials with elaborations and analogies are suggested and directions for future research proposed.