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A Cultural-Historical Study of Children Learning ScienceSimile, Metaphor and Learning to Perceive the World in Functional and Culturally Relevant Ways

A Cultural-Historical Study of Children Learning Science: Simile, Metaphor and Learning to... [In this chapter, we use original data from early childhood education to illustrate, analyse and discuss an important distinction in learning, what something looks like and what it is. The difference and relation between these two claims, we argue are of great interest when studying learning and it emphasizes how our perceiving is mediated by cultural tools. Managing this distinction could be conceptualized in terms of the dialectics between everyday and scientific concepts. Several examples from research are used to show how metaphors and simile can be used for teaching science concepts to young children. It is shown how the analysis of the data has emphasized the important distinction and relationship between what something looks like and what it is. That is, children need to be able to discern the object or phenomenon represented (modeled, illustrated) from the mode of representing it. The communicative frame established by the teachers leaves space for children’s playful similes. How children perceive the phenomenon being observed, and how they engage with this description is discussed in this chapter. Two or more people sharing attention on a third area is fundamental to education. To establish in speech how to mediate or represent what is observed is one way of coordinating perspectives with this end goal in mind.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Cultural-Historical Study of Children Learning ScienceSimile, Metaphor and Learning to Perceive the World in Functional and Culturally Relevant Ways

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Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
ISBN
978-94-017-9369-8
Pages
133 –147
DOI
10.1007/978-94-017-9370-4_9
Publisher site
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Abstract

[In this chapter, we use original data from early childhood education to illustrate, analyse and discuss an important distinction in learning, what something looks like and what it is. The difference and relation between these two claims, we argue are of great interest when studying learning and it emphasizes how our perceiving is mediated by cultural tools. Managing this distinction could be conceptualized in terms of the dialectics between everyday and scientific concepts. Several examples from research are used to show how metaphors and simile can be used for teaching science concepts to young children. It is shown how the analysis of the data has emphasized the important distinction and relationship between what something looks like and what it is. That is, children need to be able to discern the object or phenomenon represented (modeled, illustrated) from the mode of representing it. The communicative frame established by the teachers leaves space for children’s playful similes. How children perceive the phenomenon being observed, and how they engage with this description is discussed in this chapter. Two or more people sharing attention on a third area is fundamental to education. To establish in speech how to mediate or represent what is observed is one way of coordinating perspectives with this end goal in mind.]

Published: Aug 14, 2014

Keywords: Deictic references; Making crystals; Representations of objects and concepts; Microscopic images

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