ANALOGICAL REASONING IN RESTRUCTURING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

This study presents the results of an experiment which investigated an alogical reasoning in knowledge acquisition in a natural school settin g. The aims were to evaluate the efficiency of analogy in the conceptu al restructuring of a science topic and compare the effects of analogy in different learning conditions. Two analogical topics of physics (w aterflow and heat flow) were studied by means of two experiments perfo rmed in the classroom with concrete objects. Eighty-four 5th graders, divided into three experimental conditions (given analogy, constructed analogy, no analogy), took part in the study. The quantitative analys is mainly confirms the hypothesis that analogy can be a productive way to trigger a process of knowledge restructuring while students learn a new topic, However, the effective use of the analogy was affected by the experimental condition. When the analogy was constructed by the l earners themselves, instead of being presented and justified by the te acher, it acted indeed as a more powerful tool in understanding the ne w topic which required changing their initial conceptions. The qualita tive analysis shows the children's explanations of the heat flow pheno menon and different conceptual outcomes of the learning process. Final ly, educational implications are considered.