Analogies

Question 1

Analogical Reasoning

Answer 1

When a person perceives similarities and differences between objects of events and uses that information to solve problems or to learn about the world

Question 2

Analogical Reasoning in School

Answer 2

• Called upon to understand complex problems:

— Mathematics

— Decoding and comprehending text

— Learning to spell

— Interpreting figurative expression

• Examined through “second-order analogies”
• A is to B as C is to ______
• Fish: scales :: bird: ______ (beak, molt, feathers, wings)

Question 3

Development of Analogical Reasoning

Answer 3

• Gradually improves throughout life

— Greater speed and accuracy

— Greater use of systematic problem solving strategies

— Greater comprehension of semantically and structurally complex problems

— More adept at explaining solutions (metalinguistics)

• Can measure students’ knowledge of domain specific information through second-order analogy task (Alexander et al., 1998)
  Improvement in performance at end of semester since beginning?

Question 4

Development of Analogical Reasoning

Answer 4

• Performance on analogies tasks improve as a result of:

– Formal instruction in content areas

– Internal variables

—- Chronological age

—- Cognitive level

—- Academic achievement

—- Problem-solving style of the individual

• External variables

—- Semantic and structural complexities of the problem

Question 5

Internal Factors- Age to verbal analogical reasoning

Answer 5

1. Preoperational Stage (5 & 6 y.o.):
   - Successfully formed pairs
   - Could not coordinate pairs to complete analogies
   - If they did complete an analogy, could not explain why it was correct
   - Easily swayed by related alternatives
2. Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 10 y.o)
   - More analogies completed (mostly through - trial and error)
   - Better explanations provided
   - Related alternatives still accepted (mostly by 7 & 8 y.o)
3. Formal Operational Stage (11 & 12 y.o)
   - Successfully completed most of the analogies (without using trial and error)
   - Explanations superior to younger children
   - Better able to resist counter-suggestions

Question 6

Internal Factors – Academic achievement to verbal analogical reasoning

Answer 6

• Students in 9th grade – high achievers compared to low achievers based on grades Metropolitan Achievement Tests
• High achievers outperformed low achievers on all three set of problems
• Low achievers: mean accuracy score of 63%
• High achievers: mean accuracy score of 84%

Question 7

Internal Factors – Problem-solving style to verbal analogical reasoning

Answer 7

• Solving through word association:

— High association solvers score more errors on test items when associative responding is possible

— However, perform equally well when associative responding not possible on test item

—- Have capacity to solve via analogical reasoning but do not always do so

—- This strategy diminishes during school-age years and by early adolescence

—— But adolescents revert to strategy to solve complex third-order analogies

• Impulse problem-solving:

—- Perform tasks quickly and inaccurately

• Reflective problem solving:

—- Perform tasks slowly and accurately

Question 8

External Factors – Semantics to verbal analogical reasoning 1

Answer 8

• Difficulty of analogies due to different types of relationships

— Easiest:

—— Synonymous- weep is to cry as smile is to___ (joke, grin, play, mouth)

—— Antonymous- clear is to cloudy as shallow is to ___ (narrow, muddy, swift, deep)

—— Characteristic property- wheel is to round as arrow is to ___ (bow, wood, shoot, straight)

• Somewhat challenging:

—– Superordinate- shirt is to clothing as hammer is to ___ (nails, hit, tools, screwdriver)

—– Part-whole- leg is to knee as arm is to ___ (hand, wrist, elbow, sleeve)

• Most difficult:

—– Causal – fire is to smoke as water is to ___ (liquid, ice, steam, drink)

—– Functional – time is to clock as weight is to ___ (pound, hour, watch, scale)

—– Sequential- Tuesday is to Sunday and Friday is to ___ (Monday, Wednesday, Sunday, week)

Question 9

External Factors – Semantics to verbal analogical reasoning 2

Answer 9

• Difficulty of analogies due to vocabulary level of words contained in problems

— Low < moderate < high

—— Low - happy : glad :: angry: ___

—— Moderate – silly : foolish :: thoughtful

—— High – belligerent : warlike :: mollifying :

— Overall performance improves steadily due to grade level

— Consider:

—– Word knowledge vs. logical reasoning skills

—– World knowledge is closely associated with word knowledge

Question 10

External Factors – Structure to verbal analogical reasoning 1

Answer 10

• Under two different conditions:

— Generative task – supply the missing term and no choices given

—— Less skilled/younger children unable to explain or defend responses

— Multiple choice task – analogy question followed by 5 choices (some close associates to third item of analogy)

—– Younger children respond associatively

Question 11

External Factors – Structure to verbal analogical reasoning 2

Answer 11

• Under two different forms:
  1. True analogy – written in form of proportion (bird is to air as fish is to water)
  2. Quasi analogy – written in sentence form and contains verbs that specify the relationship between the terms (a bird flies in the air; a fish swims in the water)

—- Results of study: Significantly easier than true analogies for 9 y.0., but no advantage to 12 and 15 y.o.

Question 12

Analogical Reasoning in Younger Children

Answer 12

• Basic ability to reason by analogy early on in life is apparent through testing when tasks are free of additional linguistic, metalinguistic, and conceptual demands:

—- Various parts of human body compared to certain features on pictured objects

——— e.g. If this tree had a knee, where would it be?

—- Multiple-choice task for nonreaders using pictures and simple vocabulary and syntax

——- Functional relationships

——- Location relationships

——- Understanding how objects have been transformed

——- Relationships between a story and a nonverbal problem-solving task

Question 13

Assessments 1

Answer 13

• Test of Auditory Reasoning and Processing Skills (TARPS)
  
  • ages 5 to 14
• English only
• assesses children’s ability to draw conclusions, make inferences, and to apply & use judgment
• subtests: General Information, Arithmetic Reasoning, Verbal Absurdities, Finding Reasons, Analogical Completions, Comprehension, Directional Orientation, Similarities

Question 14

Assessment 2

Answer 14

• Test of Adolescent and Adult Language-4th Edition (TOAL-4)
• ages 12.0 to 24.11
• English only
• assesses spoken and written language abilities
• subtests: Word Opposites, Word Derivations, Spoken Analogies, Word Similarities, Sentence Combining, Orthographic Usage

Question 15

Treatment Techniques

Answer 15

• Use real objects to show what’s alike and different (e.g. hold up a beach ball and an apple)
• Make a list of similarities & differences (e.g. write list on chalkboard comparing apartment building and house)
• Write definitions of items in a notebook to find similarities (e.g. wrote definitions for ocean and lake)
• Drawing pictures of items to see similarities & differences (draw picture of dog and cat)
• Expand on analogies to increase child’s knowledge (e.g. Bird: Cage:: Dog:___list several features of each item and then other things that chare those features