Analyzing Analogies...continued:
Before you panic or become depressed,....
realize that most past research has focused on teacher-generated analogies. Very little research has been done on student-generated analogies. This article reports on one attempt at documenting the effectiveness of student-generated analogies including any difference in learning based on gender.
Much current research has focused on gender differences in student learning–methods of learning and assessment of what has been learned. There are many ways in which males and females differ in both areas. For example, females tend to include "the circumstances in which assessment tasks are set." However, males "tend to consider issues in isolation and judge the content and context to be irrelevant." (p. 4) This study examined whether student-generated analogies could provide a better picture of student understanding of protein synthesis than multiple choice tests and if gender differences existed between the two types of assessment.
The study took place in a suburban Chicago junior high school. It included 189 students (90% white) over a 3-year period. (Okay, so they weren’t typical of your kids–keep reading anyhow.) The 2-week unit including protein synthesis was taught each spring for each of the three years. Students were pretested one week before the unit using a publisher's test bank of multiple choice questions on both procedural (e.g., An A in DNA would generate what in mRNA?) and conceptual knowledge (e.g., Which step listed below from the process of protein synthesis is out of order?) It is important to note that the teacher had been using teacher-generated analogies throughout the year.
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Science Education Reform Index
