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In this activity
students are invited to use their imagination
and understanding of science topics to
create novel analogies for scientific
concepts
‘friends are like acid because
when you mix them with alcohol you get
base’
(An ASCEND
delegate makes a clever, but technically
inaccurate analogy)
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| Overview of learning
activity |
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| ‘The analogy game’ is
a card game based upon finding analogies between
scientific concepts and everyday activities. The
game is suitable for groups of students, possibly
group sizes of 5-6 (or even larger) depending upon
the group dynamics. Students are ‘dealt’ blue ‘concept
cards’ and green ‘analog’ cards, and must use their
concept cards to form analogies that the other players
find convincing. The first player to have successfully
formed analogies for all their concept cards wins.
The rules provided are: |
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| The dealer
holds two packs of cards, one blue pack,
one green pack.. Each player is dealt
five (5) concept (blue) cards and seven
(7) analog (green) cards. |
| The aim
of the game (*) is to be the first player
to have no blue concept cards left.
(* well – the true aim of the game is
to think creatively, and perhaps have
fun, rather than to ‘win’…) |
| Each player
plays in turn, and turns move around
the group starting with the dealer. |
| A player
can put down a concept card by making
an analogy. To make an analogy the player
has to place on the table a blue concept
card, and a green analog card, and state
that: “the [concept] is like the [analog]
because…” |
| (The player
is allowed to change plurals to singular,
and vice versa, and to use ‘the’, ‘a’,
‘an’, etc.) |
| If a player
has a blank analog card, then they can
label it with their own suggested analog. |
| The other
players must accept the analogy if there
is some similarity (which the player
making the analogy can explain) – but
can reject an analogy that is not explained.
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| When a
player puts down an analogy (concept
card and analog card), she picks up
one more green analog card. |
| If a player
cannot make an analogy on their turn,
they may swap either two (2) blue concept
cards, or three (3) green analog cards
with (unseen) cards from the packs.
They then have to wait their next turn
before tying to make an analogy. |
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Table 1: Default rules for
the analogy game |
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| Rationale for the activity |
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‘The analogy game’ was
used in ASCEND as a ‘fun’ activity. Students were
invited to play the game over refreshments during
the registration period before the final ASCEND
session. (ASCEND involved students from several
schools coming into the University Faculty of Education,
and there was a conference-style registration process,
with refreshments available from the Faculty café
– see Chapter 6.) However, the game was designed
with serious purposes. One of these involved introducing
the notion of analogy as a tool used in science.
Scientists use analogies a good deal to make sense
of phenomena – either making analogies with existing
scientific ideas, or (as in the game) with more
everyday phenomena. Although analogies of this type
do not assure an understanding of new areas of science,
they have certainly provided scientists with fertile
starting points for exploring new explanations and
understandings. Analogies provide familiar models
to test, critique, extend or dismiss.
A parallel purpose of the game is to provide an
opportunity for students to demonstrate their creativity.
The rules are set up so that a valid analogy is
one that can be explained, not necessarily one that
other players would feel is a strong analogy: the
challenge is to find a connection or parallel that
can be used to justify the analogy. (This adds to
fun element by providing the opportunity for obscure
and idiosyncratic suggestions.) The most gifted
science learners may be those who are able to make
connections and see links that others do not notice:
the analogy game provides an outlet for divergent,
creative thinking. |
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B1:
here we go here we go . . . a bible . .
. is like a molecule . . . both contain
(lots of ) information
B2: how does a molecule contain information?
B1: . . . molecules contain loads of atoms . . .
proven!
B2: I’ve got a good one I’ve got a good one . .
. for that
B1: yeah, go on then . . .
B2: A molecule is a complex arrangement of atoms
and a bible is a complex arrangement of stories
. . . and books and things . .
(ASCEND delegates develop an analogy) |
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The set of analog
cards includes some blanks (and teachers may wish
to consider increasing the proportion of blanks)
to act as ‘wild cards’: a player with a blank analog
card may write in their own suggested analog for
a science content, thus making the task even more
open ended. The default rules set out such parameters
as how many cards of each type are dealt to each
player, and when and how cards may be swapped. It
is suggested that any attempts by players to improve
the running of the game by modifying the rules should
be encouraged, as long as such changes are made
by consensus within the playing group. Again, the
most gifted learners may well wish to modify and
improve the rules rather than just accept a game
as ‘given’.
The concepts included in the set are drawn from
across science topics (see Box 1). Teachers may
readily add additional concepts. |
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| acceleration,
acid, adrenalin, alkali, atom, bacteria, blood,
boiling, brain, carbohydrate, cell, chemical
reaction, chlorophyll, chloroplast, combustion,
condensing, covalent bond, distillation, DNA,
electric current, energy, enzyme, evaporation,
excretion, eye, fat, fission, force, fungus,
gametes, gene, germination, growth, heart,
heat, hydrogen, insulin, ionic bond, leaf,
light, lung, magnet, mammal, melting, menstruation,
metal, molecule, muscle, neon, nerve, neuron,
neutralisation, nucleus, oestrogen, oxidation,
oxygen, photosynthesis, pollination, primate,
puberty, radioactivity, reduction, reproduction,
respiration, rusting, sodium, sodium chloride,
solution, temperature, testosterone, velocity,
virus |
Box 1: concepts
named on science concepts cards |
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| The analogs are just
a wide range of ‘everyday’ activities, events and
people (see Box 2). Some reflect contemporary interests
at the time of preparing the cards, and teachers
may wish to amend the set to reflect local issues
or events in the news etc. |
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| abuse, acne, Africa, agent,
aging, agitator, ant, apple, aqualung, Archbishop,
Arsenal, art, arthritis, average, babe, bananas,
bank, beauty, Beckham, being popular, bending,
bible, bicycle, boot sale, boredom, boredom,
bread vans, breaking up, breaking-into a twenty,
breathing, brick, brick wall, building-up
credit, bully, buying Euros, cage, camouflage,
car exhaust, cauliflower, charity, cheating,
Chelsea, cheque, clone, clothes, cockerel,
code, cola, compact disc, control centre,
conversation, conversation, Coronation Street,
courier, credit, dairy, dancing, death, debt,
defrosting the ‘fridge, detention, diamonds,
dirt, divorce, Dr Who, dreaming, drowning,
earth, East Enders, editing, empire building,
English breakfast, envy, exercise, explosion,
factory, fading away, failure, falling in
love, fashion, food, footballer’s wife, fridge
door, friends, fruit, fuming, gang, garden,
goggles, going to college, good idea, greed,
grey hair, heaven, hell, hemisphere, hiding,
high heels, holidays, homework, houses, hydrogen
balloon, ink, internet, intuition, Jamelia,
J-Lo, joke, jumping, kernal, key, killjoy,
kilt, kind granny, kissing, learning, loan,
lock, love, lust, magic trick, marriage, money,
motorway service station, moving house, music,
netball, nuclear war, Ozzy, painting the Fourth
bridge, pantry, parasol, pay rise, PE teacher,
peaches, petrol, photocopying, picture book,
plastic, pockets-with-holes, poodle, postman,
primary school, pump, Radio Times, railway,
rate of pay, ratio, river, roads, rules, running,
Russian roulette, sandals, sanding-down, school,
school outing, shampoo, sharing, sigh, silk,
sky, smile, smith, spiral stairs, sponge,
spring clean, stretching, string, sugary food,
Sunday, Sussex, swimming, telephone, terrorist,
Tesco, the Queen, tree, TV presenter, vault,
Versace, visionary, waking up, Wales, walnut,
wealth, web, Weekend, wit, X ray vision |
Box 2: potential
analogs for scientific concepts provided on analog
cards |
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| Resources |
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| The following resources
are included on the CD: |
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| Resource |
Description |
Filename |
| Analogy
game rules |
Default
rules for playing the analogy
game. |
Act
10 game |
| Green
analog cards |
A
set of pages to be printed as
cards * on green paper (includes
‘blank’ cards),ß |
Act
10 analogs |
| Blue
concept cards |
A
set of pages to be printed as
cards * on blue paper |
Act
10 concepts |
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| * e.g. to be printed
as 12 (or so) file pages per A4 page for cutting
into sets of cards. |
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| Download
PDF of activity 10 brief |
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