Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 6, Issue 2, Article 6 (Dec., 2005) Muammer CALIK and Alipasa AYAS An analogy activity for incorporating students' conceptions of types of solutions Previous Contents Next

Implications for Learning and Research 

To teach the types of solutions, a learning experience with a simple, time-efficient analogy is illustrated here. Since the learning experience is designed based on students' pre-existing ideas, teachers may exploit this model to incorporate in their conceptions on other topics. If they notice that the learning experience presented here is fruitful, then teachers could develop the suggestions, taking into consideration their own experience. Besides, teachers may try to devise new learning experiences by means of their experience.

Although analogies allow teachers to make abstract concepts/theories concrete for learners, they may lead to students developing various meanings if they are developed improperly. Therefore, teachers should become conscious of their students' developing conceptions of analogies (Harrison & Treagust, 2000). On the other hand, some students may not comprehend the connection between the analog and target concept. In such a situation, teachers should regularly check students' visualization of the analogy. Finally, this study is only an attempt to present alternative teaching method in order to exploit the model based on students' pre-existing ideas. But, the current study has limitation because its applicability has not been investigated. Therefore, further investigation is needed to determine its applicability in the classroom.

Acknowledgement 

We would like to thank Dr. Keith S. Taber from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, for his kind help in improving paper's English.

 

---

Copyright (C) 2005 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 6, Issue 2, Article 6 (Dec., 2005). All Rights Reserved.