Using Metaphors to Help Learn

Analogies and metaphors can be an effective way to help map familiar relationships with one to a new concept. Analogies not only help the learner understand the structure of new concept in terms of what he or she already knows, they can help draw attention to key features and conceptual boundaries of the new concept being learned. Analogies can also be motivating by increasing the learner’s belief that the new concept is something they can master, as the analogy makes it feel like something they have already mastered.

• Use multiple analogies or metaphors to describe the same thing
  This can reveal how the deeper conceptual structures persist across differing surface features and help the learner understand the new concept beyond a single analogy. “Contrasting cases” are powerful instructional tools for this kind of deep processes.
  

• Generate your own analogies
  Learning is more meaningful and lasting when learner’s activate their own prior knowledge as part of the experience. When students generate their own analogies, you can be sure they are linking the new concept to something that matters enough to them for them to call it to mind. Be sure to share your analogy to ensure you understand its limits, as no analogy is a limitless, perfect match.