Analogy prompt

Are you looking for a creative way for students to demonstrate their thinking creatively? Analogy Prompt is an excellent strategy.

Analogy prompt is a great strategy to help learners make sense of critical information and paint a picture of an important concept. I like to use analogy prompt in my teaching and teacher training workshops. Everyone comes with different experiences and cultural backgrounds. The use of analogy prompt makes discussion fun; allows learners to connect with their personal experiences in making sense of a new idea or concept being introduced; helps them visualise their thinking. It has been an effective meeting protocol for me when discussing important issues or ideas with teachers. I encourage my students to use analogy prompt to reflect on their learning process. Reflection doesn’t have to be tedious. By making an analogy, it engages learners with more profound thinking. It is also a formative assessment strategy to monitor students’ understanding of the concept being taught.

​When using this strategy, it is beneficial to provide an example. Additionally, allocating time for individual thinking is also essential. It is always helpful to provide learners with a sentence stem.

I worked with a group of student teachers from National Taiwan Normal University in October 2018. I introduced the inquiry-based teaching and learning concept and students were engaged in conducting an inquiry activity. We also explored different inquiry structures and discussed the level of scaffolding required for each type of inquiry. I invited them to consolidate their learning and reflection on inquiry-based teaching and learning by using analogy prompt strategy at the end of the day. These university students were so creative, and I can’t help to record their thinking in my blog. If you understand Chinese, they are enjoyable to read. These students painted a clear picture of what they think inquiry-based teaching and learning is.