Abstract
In this chapter metaphors and related figures of speech are shown to be necessary and integral parts of sense making and learning. It is shown how this kind of speech has been studied in research in relation to children’s understanding and learning. It is argued that different methodological approaches have led to different notions of children’s abilities. Two recent studies on children and metaphorical speech in science-learning activities in preschool are introduced. One study investigated the nature and use of such speech and another study looked at a particular form of metaphorical speech, anthropomorphism. It is argued that metaphor is one way of establishing relations between different things without collapsing them into one and the same.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aristotle. (version 1999). Poetics (S. Halliwell, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Aristotle. (version 2000). The “art” of rhetoric (J. H. Freese, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Aubusson, P. J., Harrison, A. G., & Ritchie, S. M. (Eds.). (2006). Metaphor and analogy in science education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Bishop, B. A., & Anderson, C. W. (1990). Student conceptions of natural selection and its role in evolution. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 27(5), 415–427.
Cameron, L. (2003). Metaphor in educational discourse. London: Continuum.
Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dagher, Z. R., & Boujaoude, S. (2005). Students’ perceptions of the nature of evolutionary theory. Science Education, 89, 378–391.
Draaisma, D. (2000). Metaphors of memory: A history of ideas about the mind (P. Vincent, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Halldén, O. (1988). The evolution of the species: Pupil perspectives and school perspectives. International Journal of Science Education, 10(5), 541–552.
Hanson, N. R. (1981). Patterns of discovery: An inquiry into the conceptual foundations of science. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1958)
Jakobson, B., & Wickman, P.-O. (2007). Transformation through language use: Children’s spontaneous metaphors in elementary school science. Science & Education, 16, 267–289.
Keller, E. F. (1995). Refiguring life: Metaphors of twentieth-century biology. New York: Columbia University Press.
Keller, E. F. (2002). Making sense of life: Explaining biological development with models, metaphors, and machines. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Knowles, M., & Moon, R. (2006). Introducing metaphor. London: Routledge.
Knudsen, S. (2003). Scientific metaphors going public. Journal of Pragmatics, 35(8), 1247–1263.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Leary, D. E. (1990). Psyche’s muse: The role of metaphor in the history of psychology. In D. E. Leary (Ed.), Metaphors in the history of psychology (pp. 1–78). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ochs, E., Gonzales, P., & Jacoby, S. (1996). ‘When I come down I’m in the domain state’: Grammar and graphic representation in the interpretive activity of physicists. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Interaction and grammar (pp. 328–369). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Pedersen, S. (1992). Om elevers förståelse av naturvetenskapliga förklaringar och biologiska sammanhang [Students’ understanding of scientific explanations in relation to biological contexts] (Studies in education and psychology, 31). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
Piaget, J. (1926). The language and thought of the child (M. Warden, Trans.). New York: Harcourt, Brace. (Original work published 1923)
Piaget, J. (1951). The child’s conception of the world (J. Tomlinson & A. Tomlinson, Trans.). Savage, MD: Littlefield Adams. (Original work published 1926)
Pramling, N. (2006). Minding metaphors: Using figurative language in learning to represent (Göteborg studies in educational sciences, 238). Göteborg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Pramling, N. (2010). Unearthing metaphors: Figurativeness in teacher-child talk about soil and related matters. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(1), 57–64.
Pramling, N., & Säljö, R. (2007). Scientific knowledge, popularization, and the use of metaphors: Modern genetics in popular science magazines. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 51(3), 275–295.
Pramling, N., & Säljö, R. (2011). Metaforik för minne och lärande. I R. Säljö (Red.), Lärande och minnande som social praktik (s. 42–63). Stockholm: Norstedts.
Roediger, H. L. (1980). Memory metaphors in cognitive psychology. Memory & Cognition, 8(3), 231–246.
Schoultz, J., Säljö, R., & Wyndhamn, J. (2001). Heavenly talk: Discourse, artifacts, and children’s understanding of elementary astronomy. Human Development, 44, 103–118.
Tamir, P., & Zohar, A. (1991). Anthropomorphism and teleology in reasoning about biological phenomena. Science Education, 75(1), 57–67.
Thulin, S., & Pramling, N. (2009). Anthropomorphically speaking: On communication between teachers and children in early childhood biology education. International Journal of Early Years Education, 17(2), 137–150.
von Tetzchner, S. (2005). Utvecklingspsykologi: Barn- och ungdomsåren [Developmental psychology: Childhood and youth] (I. Lindelöf, Trans.). Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
Wertsch, J. V. (1998). Mind as action. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pramling, N. (2015). Learning and Metaphor: Bridging the Gap Between the Familiar and the Unfamiliar. In: A Cultural-Historical Study of Children Learning Science. Cultural Studies of Science Education, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9370-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9370-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9369-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9370-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)