Systematicity and surface similarity in the development of analogy

Gentner, Dedre; Toupin, Cecile

doi:10.1016/s0364-0213(86)80019-2

Cited by 215 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Finally, it has been claimed that young children, if they transfer at all, prefer to rely on perceptual similarity rather than deeper relational properties (Gentner and Toupin, 1986). However, it is also true that, in the absence of a causal model, adults revert to a dependence on surface features in situations that vary from making social judgements (Read, 1984(Read, , 1986 to solving physics problems (Chi, Feltovich and Glaser, 1981) or reasoning about avian disease (Rips, 1975).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But it is also true that the physical similarity of the paper to the carpet is slight. The theory that transfer is enhanced by increasing surface similarity across problems is a traditional one (Thorndike and Woodworth, 1901) that is receiving a great deal of current support (Brown, in press;Gentner and Toupin, 1986;Gick and Holyoak, 1983). Therefore we decided to repeat Study 1, but substituted a real (miniature) rug, carpet, and heavy blanket (like an Indian blanket) as the potential solution tool.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition

Brown

Kane

Long

1989

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Children's ability to transfer what they learn in one situation to analogous problems was examined in a series of four studies. Subjects ranged in age from 3 to 10 years. The problems involved novel uses of familiar tools or simple biological themes such as mimicry as a method of defence. The data suggest that the apparent transfer reluctance shown by children in previous studies is the result of what they have been required to learn and the conditions under which they have been required to learn it. In the present studies, children as young as 3 years transferred readily if the problem domain was one they understood and engaged in, and if the traditional laboratory paradigm was modified so as to promote transfer rather than just to test for its spontaneous occurrence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition

Brown

Kane

Long

1989

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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“…Yet, even this simplistic model has its difficulties when one looks at it from the perspective of teaching, which appears to coincide with Gentner's (Gentner & Tupin 1986). Let us imagine a teacher who is trying to create a planetary analogy together with students so that students would understand the need in it and the steps in its production.…”

Section: How the Two Approaches Differmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific Analogies and Their Use in Teaching Science

Kipnis

2005

Sci Educ

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Analogy in science knew its successes and failures, as illustrated by examples from the eighteenth-century physics. At times, some scientists abstained from using a certain analogy on the ground that it had not yet been demonstrated. Several false discoveries in the 18th and early 19th centuries appeared to support their caution. It is now clear that such a position reflected a methodological confusion that resulted from a failure to distinguish between particular and general analogies. Considering analogy as a hierarchical structure provides a new insight into 'testing an analogy'. While warning science teachers of dangers associated with use of analogy, historical cases and their analysis provided here may encourage them to use analogy more extensively while avoiding misconceptions. An argument is made that the history of science may be a better guide than philosophy of science and cognitive psychology when it concerns the role of analogy in science and in teaching science for understanding.

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“…All these representations are technically analogs, and can be analysed using analogy theory. According to Gentner's theory (Gentner, 1983;Gentner & Toupin, 1986), analogies entail a -structure-preserving mapping from a source to a target. In teaching mathematics the concrete representation can be thought of as the source and the concept to be taught the target.…”

Section: Representationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations and strategies for subtraction used by primary school children

1996

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This study investigated the representations and strategies for subtraction used by a sample of 65 students, in Years 4 to 6, in two Brisbane primary schools. Children were presented individually with operations represented symbolically and as word problems. They were asked to solve tasks and explain their procedures. Teachers of the 65 students were interviewed to determine their objectives and strategies. The results of the study show in decreasing order of frequency, use of materials, mental, then written strategies in all Years. Use of recalled facts increased and of calculators decreased over the Years. The results are discussed in terras of informationprocessing capacity and teaching.The intention of the research described in this paper was to determine how children in Years 4, 5, and 6 would represent and solve subtraction algorithms presented symbolically and as word problems. This was in order to assess the strategies that the children would choose to employ, with or without concrete materials as representations, and to compare those with the strategies and representations that the teachers introduced. Teachers were interviewed to determine the objectives, strategies, and representations they intended to use, for teaching subtraction. The hypothesis was that some of the strategies and representations used by teachers and children might differ. RepresentationsIt is recommended that a variety of non-proportional manipulatives such as counters, buttons and beans, as well as embodiments of the base ten number system such as bundles of tens, Multibase Arithmetic Blocks in base ten (MAB), and Unifix cubes, be used to establish the understanding of place-value and its use in algorithms (

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Systematicity and surface similarity in the development of analogy

Abstract: This research investigates the development of analogy: in

Cited by 215 publications

References 32 publications

Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition

Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition

Scientific Analogies and Their Use in Teaching Science

Representations and strategies for subtraction used by primary school children

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