The use of generative analogies by community college physiology students /
Throughout the literature, research into the use of analogies has been based on the use of proportional analogies as a data-gathering device. The findings of those studies are limited in scope, however, due to the closed structure of the proportional analogy test. Nevertheless, researchers persist...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
1996.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=739323771&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Throughout the literature, research into the use of analogies has been based on the use of proportional analogies as a data-gathering device. The findings of those studies are limited in scope, however, due to the closed structure of the proportional analogy test. Nevertheless, researchers persist in using the proportional analogy methodology to generalize and predict the complex and often protean strategies used by students to build a domain of understanding. The attempt of this study was to investigate the often intangible methodology of human thinking through the use of a flexible, open-ended re search instrument. This researcher employed the ethnographic inquiry to examine cognitive strategies used by students to reconcile new abstractions confronted in a human physiology course. The context of this study was a sophomore community college physiology course. All members of the class participated in (a) classroom instruction in the use of analogies, (b) analogy-based pretests, and (c) two classroom exercises in the use of analogies. Six students were asked to participate in two audiotaped interviews on the basis of their scores on proportional and written analogies pretests. The interviews were conducted in the researcher's office at the beginning and end of the Fall semester. Interviews consisted of questions concerning how and why the respondents arrived at the analogies they offered on the classroom exercises. The two classroom analogy exercises used different stimuli to evoke analogy use. The first exercise required students to create and recount how and why they created particular analogies concerning a specific physiological phenomenon. The second classroom exercise required students to write explanations they would use to clarify two physiological phenomena to a person with minimal scientific background. Writing these explanations was designed to evoke spontaneous creation of appropriate analogy-based rationales. Results from this study indicated highly individualistic approaches to solving problems through analogic reasoning. The results also revealed that the students' cognitive constructs were strongly influenced by their interpersonal relationships, cultural backgrounds, and primary language. This research demonstrated a variety and depth of information relative to analogical reasoning, captured by naturalistic inquiry, that would be unavailable from conventional proportional analogy research methodology. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Curriculum and Instruction". |
| Physical Description: | ix, 131 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilms Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references: pages 116-119. |