A study on analogies used in new ninth grade biology textbook

This research revealed that a great number of analogies, metaphors, biomimetics, and anthropomorphic terms were used in the ninth grade biology textbook. It was determined that the analogies in the new biology textbook were used more frequently when compared to previous biology textbooks. In terms of the level of the target concept, more than half of the analogies were at the microscopic and sub-microscopic level. These target concepts usually contained molecules such as DNA, enzymes, and cholesterol. And this was a positive development when compared to previous biology textbooks.

It was found that there were functional, verbal, concrete-abstract, embedded activator, and simple type analogies in the new biology textbook. Most of the analogies in the textbook did not mention the limitations of the analogy. In order to prevent misconceptions originating from the analogies for students, it was necessary to mention the unsuitable aspects of the analogue in the target in an analogy. Some of the simple analogies were found to be superficial for students and unsuitable for analogy-based teaching. Therefore, importance should be given to enriched and extended analogies instead of featuring simple analogies in textbooks. The analogies in the textbooks should be explained and detailed in a comprehensible manner as suitable for the purpose.

The cognitive development levels and individual attributes of students should be taken into consideration while preparing analogies for textbooks. Sometimes, students can misunderstand the analogies in the textbook due to their individual attributes or cognitive levels. The author determines the kind, scope, and presentational format of the analogies in the textbook. The author aims to introduce new or unknown target concepts for the learner while creating the analogy. This aim can be interrupted due to the presentation format of the analogy or the individual differences in the learning process. Therefore, significant duties are placed on the teachers who use the textbooks as a teaching material. Teachers should filter the analogies in the textbooks and revise them in a way that is comprehensible to the student whenever necessary. Secondary school biology curricula should contain explanations and suggestions about instructional analogies for the textbook authors.

For analogies to become effective teaching tools in biology textbooks, they should be created relying on guides such as Teaching with Analogies (TWA; Glynn, 1991) and Focus-Action-Reflection (FAR; Treagust et al., 1998), and their limitations should be explicitly described and systematically presented.

A separate study can be done for metaphors and anthropomorphic expressions in the biology textbook that was examined in this research. It is suggested that the views of teachers and students on the analogies used in biology textbooks can be studied.