Cover not available
Part of
How Metaphors Guide, Teach and Popularize Science
Edited by Anke Beger and Thomas H. Smith
[Figurative Thought and Language 6] 2020
► pp. 73–110

Chapter 3
Coordinating metaphors in science, learning and instruction

The case of energy

 | American University of Beirut
A substantial body of research has accumulated on the use of metaphor and analogy in science, their role in the construction of novel concepts during learning, and their strategic deployment in instruction. Despite this significant body of work, we still do not have a coherent picture of the role of metaphor in how a specific scientific concept comes to be understood. This chapter draws on the theories of conceptual metaphor and blending to put forward a perspective on how metaphor makes a scientific concept accessible; crucially, the account coordinates analyses of the roles of metaphor in science, learning and instruction. The chapter offers a case study of the concept of energy to illustrate the perspective.
Keywords: conceptual metaphor, blending, science, learning, instruction, energy
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The scientific concept of energy
  • Perspectives on metaphor: Conceptual metaphor and blending
    • Conceptual metaphor theory: Identifying conceptual patterns underlying language use
    • Blending theory: Conceptual dynamics in the flow of discourse
  • The metaphorical construal of energy in scientific discourse
    • Metaphorical construal of energy: Transfer, transformation and conservation
    • Metaphorical construal of energy transfer as heat
    • Metaphorical construal of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics
  • The challenge of learning to use metaphorical construals of the scientific concept of energy
    • Changes in the use of conceptual metaphors with the acquisition of expertise
    • Conceptual metaphors in everyday language and learners’ alternative conceptions
    • Errors in student reasoning and the substance metaphor of heat
  • Conceptual metaphor and teaching the concept of energy
    • The implicit nature of conceptual metaphors
    • Invoking particular source domains strategically
    • Mapping source domains to target concepts appropriately
  • Conclusion
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 22 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.6.03ami
References (63)
References
Amin, T. G. (2001). A cognitive linguistics approach to the layperson’s understanding of thermal phenomena. In A. Cenki, B. Luka, & M. Smith (Eds.), Conceptual and discourse factors in linguistic structure (pp.27–44). Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
(2009). Conceptual metaphor meets conceptual change. Human Development, 52(3), 165–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). Conceptual metaphor and the study of conceptual change: Research synthesis and future directions. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 966–991. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amin, T. G., Jeppsson, F., Haglund, J. (2015). Conceptual metaphor and embodied cognition in science learning (Special Issue). International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 745–991. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amin, T. G., Jeppsson, F., Haglund, J. & Strömdahl, H. (2012). Arrow of time: Metaphorical construals of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. Science Education, 95(5), 818–848. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amin, T. G. & Levrini, O. (2018). Converging perspectives on conceptual change: Mapping an emerging paradigm in the learning sciences. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Amin, T. G., Smith, C., & Wiser, M. (2014). Student conceptions and conceptual change: Three overlapping phases of research. In N. Lederman and S. Abell (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Science Education, Vol II (pp.57–82). UK: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Aubusson, P. J., Harrison, A. G., & Ritchie, S. M. (2006). Metaphor and analogy in science education. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bailer-Jones, D. M. (2002). Models, metaphors and analogies. In P. Machamer & M. Silberstein (Eds.), The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of science (pp.108–128). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bowley, R., & Sánchez, M. (1999). Introductory statistical mechanics (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Brewe, E. (2011). Energy as a substance-like quantity that flows: Theoretical considerations and pedagogical consequences. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 7(2), 1–14.Google Scholar
Brookes, D. T. (2006). The role of language in learning physics (Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers). The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick.Google Scholar
Brookes, D. T., & Etkina, E. (2015). The importance of language in students’ reasoning about heat in thermodynamics processes. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 759–779. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, J. S., Collins, A., & Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 18, 32–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clement, J. (2009). Creative model construction in scientists and students: The role imagery, analogy, and mental simulation. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Close, H. & Scherr, R. (2015). Enacting conceptual metaphor through blending: Learning activities embodying the substance metaphor for energy. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 839–866. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dreyfus, B. W., Geller, B. D., Gouvea, J., Sawtelle, V., Turpen, C., & Redish, E. F. (2014). Ontological metaphors for negative energy in an interdisciplinary context, Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 10, 020108.Google Scholar
Dreyfus, B. W., Gupta, A., & Redish, J. (2015). Applying conceptual blending to model coordinated use of multiple ontological metaphors. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 812–838. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duit, R. (1987). Should energy be illustrated as something quasi-material? International Journal of Science Education, 9, 139–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1991). On the role of analogies and metaphors in learning science. Science Education, 75(6), 649–672. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, J. St. B.  T. (2003). In two minds: Dual process accounts of reasoning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 454–459. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1963). The Feynman lectures on physics (Vol. 1–3). Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G. (1996). Mappings in thought and language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G. & Turner, M. (2002). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Gee, J. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses, 2nd Edition . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gentner, D. (1983). Structure mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy. Cognitive Science, 7, 155–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1989). The mechanisms of analogical learning. In S. Vosniadou & A. Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp.199–242). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, D., & Gentner, D. R. (1983). Flowing waters or teeming crowds: Mental models of electricity. In D. Gentner & A. L. Stevens (Eds.), Mental models (pp.99–129). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Gentner, D., & Jeziorski, M. (1993). The shift from metaphor to analogy in Western science. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed.) (pp.447–480). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, D. & Wolff, P. (2000). Metaphor and knowledge change. In E. Dietrich & A. Markman (Eds.), Cognitive dynamics: Conceptual change in humans and machines (pp.295–342). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. (2008). The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glucksberg, S. & Keysar, B. (1993). How metaphors work. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought, 2nd Edition (pp.401–424). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A., Hammer, D., & Redish, E. F. (2010). The case for dynamic models of learners’ ontologies in physics. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 19(3), 285–321. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hallyn, F. (2000) Metaphor and analogy in the sciences. New York, NY: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haglund, J., Jeppsson, F., & Anderson, J. (2014). Primary school children’s ideas of mixing and of heat as expressed in a classroom setting. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 13(5), 726–739. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jeppsson, F., Haglund, J., & Amin, T. (2015). Varying use of conceptual metaphor across levels of expertise. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 780–805. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jeppsson, F., Haglund, J. Amin, T. G., & Strömdahl, H. (2013). Exploring the use of conceptual metaphor in solving problems on entropy. Journal of the Learning Sciences. 22(1), 70–120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M. (1987). The body in the mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction (2nd edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lambert, F. L. (2002). Disorder – A cracked crutch for supporting entropy discussions. Journal of Chemical Education, 79(2), 187–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lancor, R. A. (2013). The many metaphors of energy: Using analogies as a formative assessment tool. Journal of College Science Teaching, 42(3), 38–45.Google Scholar
(2014). Using metaphor theory to examine conceptions of energy in biology, chemistry, and physics. Science & Education, 23(6), 1245–1267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). An analysis of metaphors used by students to describe energy in an interdisciplinary general science course. International Journal of Science Education, 37(5–6), 876–902. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leff, H. S. (2007). Entropy, its language and interpretation. Foundations of Physics, 37(12), 1744–1766. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nersessian, N. J. (2008). Creating scientific concepts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ortony, A. (1993), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed. ). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scherr, R. E., Close, H. G., Close, E. W., Flood, V. J., McKagan, S. B., Robertson, A. D., & Vokos, S. (2013). Negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a materially structured environment. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 9(2), 020105.Google Scholar
Scherr, R R. E., Close, H. G., Close, E. W., & Vokos, S. (2012). Representing energy II Energy tracking representations. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 8(2), 1–11.Google Scholar
Scherr, R. E., Close, H. G., McKagan, S. B., & Vokos, S. (2012). Representing energy I: Representing a substance ontology for energy. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 8(2), 020114.Google Scholar
Sinatra, G. M. & Pintrich, P. R. (2003). Intentional conceptual change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, C. (2018). Conceptualizing the interactions among epistemic thinking, metacognition, and content-specific conceptual change. In T. G. Amin & O. Levrini (Eds.), Converging perspectives on conceptual change: Mapping an emerging paradigm in the learning sciences (pp. 268-286). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Spiro, R. J., Feltovitch, P. J., Coulson, R. L., & Anderson, D. K. (1989). Multiple analogies for complex concepts: Antidotes for analogy-induced misconception in advanced knowledge acquisition. In S. Vosniadou & A. Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp.498–531). New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Styer, D. F. (2000). Insight into entropy. American Journal of Physics, 68(12), 1090–1096. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Turner, M. & Fauconnier, G. (1995). Conceptual integration and formal expression. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 10(3), 183–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vosniadou, S. & Ortony, A. (1989), Similarity and analogical reasoning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watts, D. M. (1983). Some alternative views of energy. Physics Education, 18, 213–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young, H. D. & Freedman, R. A. (2003). Sears and Zemansky’s university physics: With modern physics (11th ed.). San Francisco: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Zumdahl, S. S. (1998). Chemical principles (3rd ed.). Boston: Hought.Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Atkins, Leslie
2024. Why We Eat Calories: A Plurality Metaphor of Energy in Scientific Disciplines. Science & Education DOI logo
Augé, Anaïs
2022. Ideological and explanatory uses of the COVID-19 as a war metaphor in science. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 20:2 ► pp. 412 ff. DOI logo
Amin, Tamer G.
2021. Understanding the Role of Image Schemas in Science Concept Learning: Can Educational Neuroscience Help?. In Engaging with Contemporary Challenges through Science Education Research [Contributions from Science Education Research, 9], ► pp. 237 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.