New Perspectives in Science Education

Teachers’ perceptions of analogy use in secondary school biology and chemistry teaching were investigated. The three research questions were: What do biology and chemistry teachers think about the use, benefits and limitations of analogies? What are teachers’ perspectives on using analogies? What are teachers’ perspectives on students’ analogy construction?

Biology and chemistry teachers answered a questionnaire, divided into two sections. The first section yielded descriptive statistics about: the advantages/disadvantages of the use of analogies; different analogies cited by teachers; and the topics where analogies are mostly used. The second section contained Likert scale items that allowed inferences about the teacher population and comparisons between biology, chemistry and biology-chemistry teachers. Five teacher interviews per subject allowed for deeper insights on the last two research questions, where a student worksheet was discussed. The worksheet had two sections: an analogy and students constructing an analogy.

Most teachers agreed that the advantages of analogies outweigh disadvantages. They expressed the need for further training on the effective analogy use and the mitigation of disadvantages. Student analogy construction raised diverging reactions amongst teachers, who suggested possible advantages to analogy interpretation alongside further challenges.

Keywords: analogies, biology, chemistry, secondary school

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