Skip to main content

Metaphors, Models, and Diagrams in Educational Theories and Practices

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Edusemiotics – A Handbook
  • 813 Accesses

Abstract

In his classic 1962 study, Max Black showed convincingly how scientific theories are constructed through unconscious metaphorical reasoning, thus linking them to the experiences of the scientist, the social and historical contexts in which they emerge , and the image schemata that are established within specific scientific domains. Some works have looked at this representational phenomenon within education , but only sporadically. This chapter focuses on metaphorical arguments and how they guide the construction of educational theories that lead to models and diagrammatic strategies, which in turn guide the derivative educational practices. It will then examine the possibility that metaphor itself can be incorporated into actual teaching practices, illustrating how this can be done in the teaching of mathematics and second languages . The chapter, by documenting the connection between metaphors, models, diagrams, and learning theories, addresses edusemiotics in its both theoretical and empirical aspects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allwein, G., & Barwise, J. (Eds.). (1996). Logical reasoning with diagrams. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker-Plummer, D., & Bailin, S. C. (1997). The role of diagrams in mathematical proofs. Machine Graphics and Vision, 8, 25–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker-Plummer, D., & Bailin, S. C. (2001). On the practical semantics of mathematical diagrams. In M. Anderson (Ed.), Reasoning with diagrammatic representations (pp. 339–355). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barwise, J., & Etchemendy, J. (1989). The liar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, M. (1962). Models and metaphors. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandrasekaran, B., Glasgow, J., & Narayanan, N. H. (Eds.). (1995). Diagrammatic reasoning: Cognitive and computational perspectives. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danesi, M. (1995). Learning and teaching languages: The role of conceptual fluency. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5, 3–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danesi, M. (2003). Conceptual metaphor theory and the teaching of mathematics: Findings of a pilot project. Semiotica, 145, 71–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danesi, M. (2007). A conceptual metaphor framework for the teaching of mathematics. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 26(3), 225–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danesi, M. (2016a). Language and mathematics: An interdisciplinary guide. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Danesi, M. (2016b). Conceptual fluency in second language teaching: An overview of problems, issues, research findings, and pedagogy. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 5, 145–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • English, L. D. (Ed.). (1997). Mathematical reasoning: Analogies, metaphors, and images. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2002). The way we think. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fries, C. F. (1927). The teaching of the English language. New York: Appleton Century.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fries, C. F. (1945). Teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer, E. (1995). Reasoning with sentences and diagrams. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 35, 73–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer, E., & Shin, S. (1996). Euler and the role of visualization in logic. In J. Seligman & D. Westerståhl (Eds.), Logic, language and computation (Vol. 1, pp. 271–286). Stanford: CSLI Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer, E., & Shin, S. (1998). Euler’s visual logic. History and Philosophy of Logic, 19, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinkel, E. (2006). Culture in second language teaching and learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holme, R. (2004). Mind, metaphor and language teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holme, R. (2009). Cognitive linguistics and second language teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Holme, R. (2012). Cognitive linguistics and the second language classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 46, 6–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kecskes, I. (1999). Conceptual fluency and the use of situation-bound utterances in L2. Links & Letters, 7, 145–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kecskes, I. (2000a). A cognitive-pragmatic approach to situation-bound utterances. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 605–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kecskes, I. (2000b). Conceptual fluency and the use of situation-bound utterances in L2. Links & Letters, 7, 143–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kiryuschenko, V. (2012). The visual and the virtual in theory, life and scientific practice: The case of Peirce’s quincuncial map projection. In M. Bockarova, M. Danesi, & R. Núñez (Eds.), Semiotic and cognitive science essays on the nature of mathematics (pp. 61–70). Munich: Lincom Europa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulpa, Z. (2004). On diagrammatic representation of mathematical knowledge. In A. Sperti, G. Bancerek, & A. Trybulec (Eds.), Mathematical knowledge management (pp. 23–34). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lado, R. (1964). Language teaching: A scientific approach. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G., & Núñez, R. (2000). Where mathematics comes from: How the embodied mind brings mathematics into being. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langer, S. K. (1948). Philosophy in a new key. New York: Mentor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, S. (2012). Mathematics between semiosis and cognition. In M. Bockarova, M. Danesi, & R. Núñez (Eds.), Semiotic and cognitive science essays on the nature of mathematics. Lincom Europa: Munich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peirce, C. S. (1931–1935; 1958). Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols. 1–6, C. Hartshorne & P. Weiss, Eds.; Vols. 7 and 8, A. Burks, Ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press [cited as CP].

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper, K. (1935). The logic of scientific discovery. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popper, K. (1963). Conjectures and refutations. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, D. D. (2009). The existential graphs of Charles S. Peirce. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sebeok, T. A., & Danesi, M. (2000). The forms of meaning: Modeling systems theory and semiotics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semetsky, I. (2007). Towards a semiotic theory of learning: Deleuze’s philosophy and educational experience. Semiotica, 164, 197–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semetsky, I. (2010a). Information enough. The Semiotic Review of Books, 19(3), 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semetsky, I. (Ed.). (2010b). Semiotics education experience. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semetsky, I., & Stables, A. (Eds.). (2014). Pedagogy and edusemiotics: Theoretical challenges/practical opportunities. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shin, S. (1994). The logical status of diagrams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stjernfelt, F. (2007). Diagrammatology: An investigation on the borderlines of phenomenology, ontology, and semiotics. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Uexküll, J. von (1909). Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tierre. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valeva, G. (1996). On the notion of conceptual fluency in a second language. In A. Pavlenko & R. S. Salaberry (Eds.), Cornell working papers in linguistics: Papers in second language acquisition and bilingualism (pp. 22–38). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcel Danesi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Danesi, M. (2017). Metaphors, Models, and Diagrams in Educational Theories and Practices. In: Semetsky, I. (eds) Edusemiotics – A Handbook. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1495-6_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1495-6_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-1493-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-1495-6

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics