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.

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