This slide show illustrates the strategy of teaching through metaphors.

1. The Metaphorical Teaching Strategy
This is a strategy that is designed to engage students in metaphorical activity, stimulate their
creativity, and lead them to produce solutions reflecting new and different ways about a topic.
A metaphor is a word or phrase that is used to make a comparison between two people, things,
animals, or places. They can be very helpful for kids who are learning the meaning of specific
words because they provide a more visual description of the word or thought.
The snow is a white blanket.

2. Advantages of the method
1. To help students understand and experience the various psychological states necessary to
creative thinking
2. To draw students into the states of deferment, speculation, autonomy, and innovation
3. To use distance or strangeness between two ideas to foster creative exploration of a topic.
4. To use conceptual distance to increase personal involvement with a topic
5. To see a topic or object from two different frames of reference.

3. Limitations of the method
1. Students experiences can be different from others and thus their creative thinking can be
limited
2. The two ideas that are being used can be understood in many ways

4. When the method is best used
1. Direct Analogy or Simile: A simple comparison of two objects. Its purpose is to help
learners detach from a topic to allow for the development of new insights. e.g.
Subject Analogy
Atmosphere Blanket
Cell City
Book River
2. Personal Analogy/ Personification: This allows students to personally identify
themselves with a topic or subject being examined. E.g. imagine yourself a rainbow
without color. How are you like a spoon?
3. Compressed Conflict Analogy/ Oxymoron: This type encourages the learner to think
of a topic or object by using two words that are opposites or seem to contradict each
other. E.g. How is silence soft and loud
An example of sprinting without legs

5. How it can be used
1. Choose the content
2. Select an analogy that students are familiar ( Direct analogy, personal analogy,
compressed conflict)
3. Collect information on the content and analogy from students
4. Analyze the analogy , inviting them to make crazy connections
5. Have students communicate their ideas
6. Contrast the content with direct analogy
7. Continue to explore the topic