Metaphor And Learning Essay

Great Essays
When explaining new material to students, educators frequently employ metaphor during their lectures to make new, difficult material simpler and more accessible to the student than it otherwise would be. This teaching technique is logical: metaphors provide the link between immaterial, complex target domains of knowledge and readily understandable source domains that the students have been exposed to in their everyday lives, in order to make the new information comprehensible to the learner. In “Metaphor and Learning,” Hugh Petrie and Rebecca Oshlag assert that metaphors are essential to the learning process: “metaphor, or something much like it, is what renders possible and intelligible the acquisition of new knowledge” (Petrie and Oshlag …show more content…
In the fifth chapter of Biology, Peter Raven and George Johnson demonstrate the pedagogical functionality of metaphor by “highlighting” (Kövecses 91) the biological function of cell membranes through the underlying descriptive structural megametaphors CELL MEMBRANE IS A WALL and TRANSPORT PROTEINS ARE DOORS and the mappings between them, and by “hiding” (Kövecses 92) other aspects of this concept. Throughout this chapter, Peter Raven and George Johnson pair these main conceptual metaphors with visual portrayals of transport proteins that enable molecules to pass through the “wall” of the cell, in order to develop a stronger connection within the brain of the learner between the abstract concept of the CELL MEMBRANE and the concept of walls, and preparing learners for the process of conversion that Thomas Kuhn called the “paradigm shift” (Kuhn 150), strengthening the argument that educators rely on metaphors to assist with the explanation of abstract domains in a specific field to improve

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    There is an abundance of figurative language in Night, written by Elie Wiesel. He uses a lot of very complicated figurative language to express certain images or feelings, often making his words like a puzzle that one needs to solve in order to understand its meaning. There are three particularly meaningful uses of figurative language throughout the novel, and that show Elie Wiesel’s creativity and amazing writing skill. The first use of figurative language that really stood out to me was when Elie Wiesel used a metaphor to compare the situation in which the Jews were to a sword hanging over their heads.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Metaphors In The Bible

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Deuteronomy 32:4 says “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Metaphors about God and Jesus abound in The Bible. God is commonly referred to as a rock, as in this example.…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Harris And Me Analysis

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Books are apart of every day life even if you’re reading flyers or the newspaper its still a type of book. in most books people use figurative language to help enrich the writing and make it more enjoyable for the reader. In Harris and me, Gary Pulsen uses many different types of figurative language, such as: alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor, onomatopoeia, and personification. In this essay I will be talking about simile, hyperbole and idioms, in the book harris and me. Some authors of fiction use similes to spark a reader's imagination while getting the information across.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wharton establishes patterns of imagery by using figurative language — language meant to be taken figuratively as well as literally. In Ethan Frome, Wharton's descriptive imagery is one of the most important features of her simple and efficient prose style. Her descriptions serve a definite stylistic and structural purpose. The figurative language used by Wharton includes metaphors and similes. Metaphors compare two unlike things without using words of comparison.…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How to Read Literature like a Professor Essay John Henson 09/25/17 Period 6 In the book “How to Read Literature like a Professor” many forms of literature are used to get the reader to understand why some of them are used and how to use them in certain situations. Terms such as Irony, allusion, symbolism, etc. are used in this book to get the reader to understand the way a professor writes literature and comprehend all of the terms themselves. For example the book how to read literature like a professor uses allusions like Shakespeare, the bible, Greek mythology, and fairytales.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A metaphor is a word or phrase that describes an object, which content cannot be taken literal. An example of a metaphor is Liberty’s school motto, “Knowledge Aflame”. The school is not going to actually set knowledge on fire. The phrase represents the faculty’s goal is to spark an interest in education and learning among their students. Liberty University wants to provide the best education to its students and in return expects the attending and future students to come to be educationally hungry.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robin Benway, in her novel, Emmy and Oliver, uses metaphors, personification, and hyperbole to expand on the dramatic plot of her book. This would cause readers to really feel a connection of grief to the main character, Emmy, and her friends, due to the situation they were going through of losing their friend for so many years. Benway expands on the shocking fact of Oliver coming back from being kidnapped by his dad for many years by using metaphors quite often. “Preserved in amber,” “A fossil in a brave new world,” compares Oliver’s new life to that of a fossil. This emphasizes on the awkward transition that Oliver is feeling, he knew his friends before, but after 10 years everything seems completely different-- which is a normal response to have after being kidnapped for 10 years.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edwards offers numerous examples of metaphors such as fire, a “lake of burning brimstone”, a flood of “great waters”, and a “wide gaping mouth,” (19,20). Other forms of figurative language help to create the image of…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Story About War Stephen Crane 's The Red Badge of Courage presents a unique view of the Civil War through the point of view of a soldier, Henry Fleming. By using this point of view, readers see the realities of war from someone experiencing them rather than the typical unfeeling articles by those who were never on the front lines. One strategy that Crane uses to create this vivid image of war is the use of figurative language, specifically similes and metaphors. Let 's explore these literary terms and their use in this novel. Definition of Metaphor and Simile Metaphors and similes are two examples of figurative language used by many writers to add visual appeal and help readers make connections with the characters and events of the story.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A metaphor is a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar. Artists use metaphor as a way to express their artwork in a meaningful manner, through object. An artwork/object has the potential to be anything that the creator decides it to be viewed as. Artists Alberto Giacometti and Andy Goldsworthy use the relationship between the drawing and the development of the three dimensional artwork.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the poems, Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy and Let me describe for you her eyes by Glenn Colquhoun, the writers have used many different language techniques to show their thoughts on relationships. In Valentine, Carol Ann Duffy uses metaphors and personification to communicate her ideas about love. She thinks that love isn’t always good and joyful and can be miserable and heart breaking. In Let me describe for you her eyes, Glenn Colquhoun uses metaphors and similes to let the readers know his ideas and perspective on love. He shows that love can cause a lot of pain and it doesn’t always turn out the way you want.…

    • 1271 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    According to Saussure, a sign is a combination of a sound-image or “signifier” and concept or “signified”. One key concept in understanding semiotics is that the relationship between the signifier and the signified is always arbitrary. But since there is no logical connection between a word and a concept, the meanings that signifiers posses must somehow be learned. This implies that there are certain “codes” that evolve within a society or culture, which help individuals generate meaning from signs. These codes influence the ways in which individuals interpret signs and symbols in the media (9).…

    • 2331 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    What I have learned in class throughout the whole semester was more and more on how to write an essay well but also how I can take information about each article and top, I also learned on how well and what was to take notes and be able to understand what I am writing about and be able to create my own opinion. When writing different types of essay and also being able to tell my classmates and also my audience about my what my story is talking about and being able to get their attention. I learned so much more than I ever did in highschool and I will take my skills to my english class and be able to explain and understand and able to finish and write a well written essay. The difference and also realized and compared this class and every how english and history work well with each other.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    This assignment will critically reflect on how Learning Outside the Classroom engages and supports children, as well as analysing how effective the approach is and the impact it has on children’s learning and behaviour. Learning Outside the Classroom (LotC) is an umbrella term which covers every type of learning experience which occurs outside the classroom. The particular focus of this assignment will be learning outside in a natural outdoor environment, which is also an important aspect of Forest Schools, however for the purposes of this assignment I have chosen to take my focus on just this, as well as discussing how I can use this knowledge to develop myself professionally as a trainee teacher. There are various studies to suggest that learning outside the classroom helps to aid a well-rounded and enhanced education for children, where they are given the opportunity to excel and flourish as young individuals. There are countless links between LotC and children’s attainment in…

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When I was young I was never the best at reading even though my parents owned many books and magazines that they read on a daily basis. My mother enjoyed reading her gossip magazines that she would receive in the mail once a month and my father had a whole bookshelf full of history books. My parents would always encourage me to read the books I would check out at the school library to improve my reading and writing but that advice usually went in through one ear and out the other. The only books I would really attempt to read had to be humorous or horrifying, my favorites were the Goosebumps collection. I loved reading these books alone in my room where I couldn’t be sidetracked by all the commotion that went on in my house.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays