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From cheese curls to fatty acid structure: using “commonplace” analogies to teach science to nonmajors

2018; American Physical Society; Volume: 42; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1152/advan.00180.2017

1522-1229

Kathleen Petri Seiler, Jane E. Huggins,

Science Education and Pedagogy

IlluminationsFrom cheese curls to fatty acid structure: using "commonplace" analogies to teach science to nonmajorsKathleen Petri Seiler and Jane HugginsKathleen Petri SeilerScience Department, Champlain College, Burlington, Vermont and Jane HugginsSchool of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Stockton University, Galloway, New JerseyPublished Online:15 May 2018https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00180.2017MoreSectionsPDF (42 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInWeChat INTRODUCTIONNonscience majors can be challenging to teach in undergraduate science courses. Many different disciplines, levels of understanding, and previous science knowledge can be represented by these students. Moreover, nonscience majors may not see the relevance of science to their chosen major or to their life in general and, furthermore, may be intimidated by the subject matter.Active learning techniques can be employed to better engage undergraduates in science content and have been shown to increase student performance (2). However, for the nonmajor with little motivation to learn science concepts, higher order thinking can be hindered by lack of understanding of basic scientific information.One major contribution to successful teaching of nonmajors is the instructor's ability to link basic science concepts with current events in a student's everyday life (7). Analogies are an excellent tool with which to do this linking.An analogy can be defined as, "a comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it. The analogy aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar" (6). The use of analogies as teaching tools has been described as early as 360 B.C.E. when Plato (8) used an analogy to the sun to illustrate the principle of "goodness."More recently, many research studies have described the use of analogies to teach science. Glynn (4) addresses the value of analogies to teach complex topics in science. She indicates that "new concepts (in the life sciences) often represent complex, hard-to-visualize systems with interacting parts (e.g., a cell, an ecosystem, photosynthesis)." She suggests that students can use analogies to form limited but meaningful understandings of these complex concepts.Sibley (10) observed that roughly 70% of the students in his general science course for nonmajors believed that scientists think differently from nonscientists. He suggests that, if students are provided the opportunity to reason by analogy, they may recognize that everyone can think like a scientist. He believes analogy is a fundamental cognitive process because drawing analogies requires "some sort of similarity mapping of one concept on another, a process which lies at the heart of learning."Gilbert and Justi (3) have related analogies to modeling-based teaching in science as well as other disciplines. They suggest that analogies may be sources for models. They support student generation of analogies as an activity to engage them in models and modeling-based activities. However, they draw distinctions between analogies and models, indicating that "a model is not in itself an analogy" and an "analogy cannot represent all the relationships between a given model and the source from which it is originated."Inevitably, analogies are less than perfect. Seiler (9) suggests that, "if you try to find perfect analogies for concepts in science, you will find very few." But she also asserts that instructors who develop analogies should, "Be crazy. Be a little inaccurate. But help the students understand and remember by showing them that they ALREADY understand the concept. They just need to apply their knowledge in a different way."Using "commonplace" analogies to teach science to nonmajors.As indicated above, an instructor's ability to link basic science concepts with current events (or objects) that are familiar to students can lead to a greater understanding of the concepts under study. This paper suggests that these familiar or "commonplace" analogies can be used to introduce a scientific concept through a series of simple steps. These steps can be adapted to different scenarios and are a gradual way to introduce a concept that will capture and maintain student attention.The following example illustrates this stepwise approach by explaining the transport of modified proteins in the Golgi apparatus using an analogy about ordering a textbook from Amazon. To put this example in context, students have been introduced previously to the concept of intracellular protein synthesis occurring in the cytoplasm and rough endoplasmic reticulum.Capture student attention by introducing a "commonplace" scenario. Ask the class a question that is essentially a personal question about their experience. For example, "How many of you have ever ordered a book from Amazon?"Engage students by asking students to share their experience with the "commonplace" scenario. Using the example above, suggest that students "walk through" verbally what happens once the order is placed so that eventually they receive their book. In this analogy, the book is the protein. The book is wrapped up (modified) and then packaged (vesicles) and an address is put on it (modification for protein delivery). Then the book, in its package is placed on a truck/plane and delivered to the student's house (vesicles walking along microtubules, which can be likened to highways/roads). Eventually, the book ends up at the student's house/college, and the student gets it and uses it (final protein delivery and function).Evaluate student understanding by asking them to describe what would happen if one part of the process did not work properly. For example, maybe the book did not get an address on the package, or the highways were not there. Observe if students can draw parallels to what would happen to a protein if similar "mishaps" occurred in the cell.This sort of exercise allows students to attach a complex cellular process to a process of which they are already aware. As such, this "attachment" (analogy) gives them an additional tool with which to both remember and understand the scientific concepts involved. This analogy makes the scientific content "feel" simple and more tangible to them and may help them realize that scientific concepts are not too hard to understand, thereby breaking the mindset that tells them that science is just too hard.Other commonplace analogies can also be employed that are grounded in everyday experience but border on the fantastical to illustrate a point. For example, when explaining the flow of gases and nutrients in a capillary bed, it is important to discuss how the flow of blood slows in the capillary structure compared with the rate at which it travels in the artery and arterioles in which it arrives at the capillary bed.An analogy to this slowing of blood flow can be described by a scenario in which a student catches a ride to campus in a friend's car. However, the student realizes that he/she does not really want to get out of the car as the car passes by campus at 50 mph. But, as the car slows down, the student gets out, and does what he/she needs to do on campus. This analogy represents delivery of nutrients and gases (the student) to the tissue (campus). Conversely, when the student is ready to go back home and get a ride from a friend, he/she again wants the friend not to speed by campus, but slow down so that the student can get back in the car and leave campus at the same slow rate.Finally, food analogies can be particularly helpful since all students eat. As an example, an effective, conceptual analogy for the structural differences between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids has been proposed using well-known snack foods (9). Saturated fats are more linear in structure, allowing for tight packing. This can be likened to thin pretzel sticks stuffed into a snack-sized storage bag. Many pretzel sticks can be crammed into this relatively small area, as are saturated fatty acids, which contributes to their physical property of solidity at room temperature. In contrast, cheese curls are curvy and do not pack tightly in the same-sized snack bag as used for the pretzel sticks. These curls represent unsaturated fatty acids with "kinks" in the molecules that cause the molecules to be less linear and to pack less tightly. They are more likely to be liquids at room temperature. This analogy is also an example of "layering" analogies to clarify a concept. In this particular example, students can compare/contrast the properties of two different snack foods to arrive at a better understanding of fatty acid structure.Again, the emphasis of these examples is on trying to relate general, "big" ideas about biological/chemical concepts to students by using analogies that are not necessarily fully accurate, but allow the students' mental images to help them understand the overarching concepts of biology. Details are important in science, of course, but, when educating the nonmajor, additional tools (e.g., analogies) that can be provided to students for retention of concepts can be particularly powerful for learning.How does one come up with these analogies? The instructor needs to spend time reviewing the material and trying to think about it from a novice's point of view, which is not always easy. Much of our knowledge as scientists and educators now feels "second nature," which can make finding analogies more challenging. Engaging with colleagues both within and outside of our disciplines and asking students to come up with analogies to everyday life as class or homework exercises are useful.These analogies can be adapted and used as hands-on active learning components of a class session, as demonstrations, or even simply explained. The tangibility of the concept is strengthened by using everyday items that not only capture student interest, but also help them retain the information and, hopefully, apply it to new situations.The effectiveness of this approach has been seen anecdotally in several biology courses taught to nonmajors. For example, students will answer short-answer exam questions with the same analogy as was used in class. Furthermore, students have demonstrated recall of an in-class analogy in individual meetings with the instructor. Finally, students report helping one another and creating their own commonplace analogies when studying together. One student, in particular, after a commonplace analogy was used in a class said, "You are making science seem kind of easy."DISCUSSIONDespite the widespread use of analogies to teach science, caveats for the use of analogies as teaching tools have been advanced. Cosgrove (1) demonstrated that an analogy is an excellent thinking tool in school science, provided the teacher understands the concept being taught and can guide his or her students in the inquiry process. Other researchers concur. Harrison and Treagust (5) feel that analogies used in teaching science are "double-edged" swords. They suggest that "teachers should evaluate the suitability of the analogy to the target for the student audience and the extent of teacher-directed or student-generated mapping needed to understand the target concept." They emphasize that multiple analogies can often describe the target more effectively than a single analogy.The ways in which analogies in science teaching may not yield the results desired have also been discussed in depth by Gilbert and Justi (3). They suggest that misconceptions following use of analogies can include students not understanding the base domain, students constructing improper matches between source and target, and, finally, students misusing the analogy in contexts other than the one in which it is taught.In essence, criticism of the use of analogies as teaching tools stems from the fear and/or observation that students will absorb a "misconception" of the subject simply because the analogy is imperfect and/or their understanding of it is incomplete.As mentioned above, the perfect analogy for any given target probably does not exist. Hence, attempts to discover or "manufacture" such an analogy in which every characteristic can be mapped to the target may be an interesting exercise theoretically, but may not have much practical value. This is particularly true for analogies developed for use with nonmajors studying basic science. Obviously, care should be taken when introducing students to analogies. But practical, easy-to-understand analogies can be derived (as illustrated by pretzel thins and cheese curls) that do not attempt to map every characteristic of the target. Rather, they focus on one or two basic concepts. This focus can help nonmajors begin to understand more complex topics, which can be addressed with the use of additional analogies. This layering of analogies may be quite fruitful for classroom discussions in which advanced scientific concepts are presented in a stepwise fashion.Conclusion.Simple analogies derived from commonplace, everyday objects and events can effectively serve as tools through which to teach basic science concepts to nonscience major students. As such, these analogies can enhance the scientific literacy of these students, contributing to a greater appreciation of science in their daily lives. While no one analogy is perfect, simple analogies can help students begin to understand more complex biological or chemical processes.DISCLOSURESNo conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors.AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSK.P.S. and J.H. conceived and designed research; K.P.S. and J.H. performed experiments; K.P.S. and J.H. drafted manuscript; K.P.S. and J.H. edited and revised manuscript; K.P.S. and J.H. approved final version of manuscript.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSStockton University is gratefully acknowledged for providing D. J. Huggins with an Adjunct Faculty Opportunity Fund award to cover travel expenses to Champlain College.REFERENCES1. Cosgrove M. A case study of science-in-the-making as students generate an analogy for electricity. Int J Sci Educ 17: 295–310, 1995. doi:10.1080/0950069950170303.Crossref | ISI | Google Scholar2. Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, Smith MK, Okoroafor N, Jordt H, Wenderoth MP. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111: 8410–8415, 2014. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111. Crossref | PubMed | ISI | Google Scholar3. Gilbert J, Justi R. Analogies in modelling-based teaching and learning. In: Modelling-based Teaching in Science Education. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2016, p. 149–166.Crossref | Google Scholar4. Glynn S. The Teaching-with-Analogies Model. NSTA WebNews Digest. Science and Children: Methods and Strategies (Online). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association, 2007. http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=53640 [1 March 2017].Google Scholar5. Harrison A, Treagust D. Teaching and learning with analogies: friend or foe? In: Metaphor and Analogy in Science Education, edited by Aubusson PJ, Harrison AG, Ritchie SM. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer, 2006, p. 11–24. doi:10.1007/1-4020-3830-5_2.Crossref | Google Scholar6. Literary Devices. Definition and Examples of Literary Terms (Online), 2016. https://literarydevices.net/analogy/ [1 March 2017].Google Scholar7. Pain E. Teaching Science to Nonscience Majors (Online). Science April 23, 2010. http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2010/04/teaching-science-nonscience-majors [1 July 2017].Google Scholar8. Plato . Great Dialogues of Plato. VI. The Republic, trans. Rouse WHD. New York: Signet Classic, 1984, p. 281–311.Google Scholar9. Seiler K. Teaching Science by Analogy: How to "Grab" the Non-Major (Online). Life Science Teaching Resource Community, 2015. https://blog.lifescitrc.org/pecop/2015/10/26/ [1 Nov 2016].Google Scholar10. Sibley D. Reasoning and learning with analogies: making metacognition "natural". In: Workshop on The Role of Metacognition in Teaching Geoscience. Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, November 19–21, 2008.Google ScholarAUTHOR NOTESAddress for reprint requests and other correspondence: K. P. Seiler, Division of Information Technology and Sciences, 163 S. Willard St., PO Box 670, Burlington, VT 05402-0670 (e-mail: [email protected]edu). Download PDF Previous Back to Top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation Collections Cited ByReplacing a Veterinary Physiology Endocrinology Lecture with a Blended Learning Approach Using an Everyday AnalogyJournal of Veterinary Medical Education, Vol. 49, No. 1Use of essential analogies in clinical anatomy active learning curriculum: A personal reflectionTranslational Research in Anatomy, Vol. 18 More from this issue > Volume 42Issue 2June 2018Pages 393-395 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2018 the American Physiological Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00180.2017PubMed29761716History Received 1 December 2017 Accepted 26 April 2018 Published online 15 May 2018 Published in print 1 June 2018 Metrics