PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150)-- Guides Classroom Use- Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052)

Analogies are believed to help students structure new knowledge and are considered to be especially useful for topics of an abstract or submicroscopic nature. Analogies, however, have also been identified as a factor in the students ' misunderstanding of chemicaJ concepts. This paper reports on the literature identifying the advantages and constraints of the use of analogies in chemistry education. The term "analogy " i ~ defined and three types of analogies--verbal, picture, and personal--are described. Analogies concepts, to compare similarities of the students ' real world with the new concepts, and to provide a motivational function. The following constraints of analogies are described: analog unfaniilJarity, stages of cognitive development, and incorrect transfer of attributes. An examinat.on of analogies found i