An Analogical Approach to STEM Education

STEM education is a persistent problem in the United States. Analogy offers a potential tool for improving educational outcomes because analogical comparison increases attention to the structural-relational information that characterizes experts’ conceptual representations. The current project investigated analogy-inspired instruction in two lab studies using UCLA undergraduates and one naturalistic classroom study. In Study 1, UCLA undergraduates learned about STEM concepts from lecture videos using analogical principles or control videos, and performance was assessed with an immediate posttest. Performance was similar across both instructional conditions, which may be attributable to the high-ability sample. In Study 2, UCLA undergraduates learned how to solve equation construction problems from videos that represented relational information explicitly in a geometric format, in a carefully-matched symbolic format, or in an adaptation of the gold standard of instruction for this topic, JUMP Math. While all lessons improved performance, the geometric and symbolic lessons were most effective. As in Study 1, the high-ability sample demonstrated an ability to learn from all types of instruction. The classroom study investigated the efficacy of analogical instruction in an online class environment in the context of cognitive load theory. UCLA students enrolled in Life Sciences 30A: Quantitative Concepts for Life Scientists (in Winter quarter 2021) learned topics through a structured teacher-directed approach to analogical instruction or a less-structured student-directed approach, and exam performance was measured. Students benefitted from the teacher-directed approach and the benefit was especially pronounced for low-performing students. Implications for designing educational interventions for students with lower abilities, and for successful researcher-practitioner collaborations, are discussed