Teachers’ beliefs and cognitions about the use they make of analogies for teaching biology

Authors

Keywords:

Analogical teaching, Biology, Science teachers, High school education.

Abstract

In teaching and learning Biology it is frequent to resort to comparing a new topic to one already known by the students (i.e. analogy). In the present work, we were interested in knowing the teachers' perception and cognitions of these tools, both when they are used by them and when they arise spontaneously from the students. 10 semi-structured interviews were carried out with Biology teachers from the first years of secondary schools in the city of Cipolletti. From their answers we were able to know that they consider analogies to be widely used in teaching their discipline, in particular, in the first years of middle school. They believe that they are very useful, although they warn of some factors that can both enhance or hinder their effectiveness. They point out that analogies serve different functions in teaching, such as presenting a new topic or evaluating the learning process. Unlike the theories on analogical thinking, most of the analogies they recalled involve comparing the novel subject to another from a different domain or disciplinary field, which could imply that they carry out a voluntary search in their memory. Lastly, while they state that their students frequently make analogies spontaneously, they were unable to provide further information about them. The information collected contributes to a better understanding of analogical reasoning in teaching Biology, particularly in relation to the cognitive process of the teacher when using this reasoning.

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Published

2021-07-01

How to Cite

Ceccacci Sawicki, L., Portela, M. P., Salica, M., & Olguín, V. (2021). Teachers’ beliefs and cognitions about the use they make of analogies for teaching biology. Pilquen Magazine. Psychopedagogy Section, 18(1), 15–27. Retrieved from https://revele.uncoma.edu.ar/index.php/psico/article/view/3171