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Flashcards in Analogies Deck (15)
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1
Q

Analogical Reasoning

A

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

2
Q

Analogical Reasoning in School

A
  • 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)
3
Q

Development of Analogical Reasoning

A
  • 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?
4
Q

Development of Analogical Reasoning

A
  • 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

5
Q

Internal Factors- Age to verbal analogical reasoning

A
  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
6
Q

Internal Factors – Academic achievement to verbal analogical reasoning

A
  • 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%
7
Q

Internal Factors – Problem-solving style to verbal analogical reasoning

A
  • 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

8
Q

External Factors – Semantics to verbal analogical reasoning 1

A
  • 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)

9
Q

External Factors – Semantics to verbal analogical reasoning 2

A
  • 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

10
Q

External Factors – Structure to verbal analogical reasoning 1

A
  • 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

11
Q

External Factors – Structure to verbal analogical reasoning 2

A
  • 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.

12
Q

Analogical Reasoning in Younger Children

A
  • 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

13
Q

Assessments 1

A
  • 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
14
Q

Assessment 2

A
  • 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
15
Q

Treatment Techniques

A
  • 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