Metaphors and Similes

Performance Learning PLUS is a monthly e-newsletter by Performance Learning Systems (PLS), a comprehensive educational services company that has provided a full spectrum of programs, products, and consulting services for educators and business professionals since 1971.

This issue focuses on METAPHORS and SIMILES.

Tips

Similes and metaphors are both figures of speech that make comparisons. Similes compare two unlike things using the words "like" or "as" (e.g., "eyes like emeralds"). Metaphors make comparisons without using "like" or "as" (e.g., "the heart is a lonely hunter").

Using metaphors and similes in the classroom encourages students to make connections between two items that might not otherwise be connected. When you ask your students to make these connections, you are giving them an opportunity to flex and expand their creative minds.

Metaphors and similes can be used to stimulate creativity in any subject area. Below are a few examples.

Sample Similes

• Civics: The branches of government are like internal organs in the body: they each perform separate tasks, but they must work together to be successful.
• Language Arts: Writing is like water, because you have to let it flow.
• Math: Fractions are like pieces of pie, because they represent parts of a whole.
• Technology: Finding something on the Internet is like looking for a store in an unfamiliar city. Sometimes you don't know how to get there, but eventually you can find what you want.

Sample Metaphors

• Language Arts: In the recipe of grammar, nouns are the main ingredients, and adjectives are the spices and flavorings.
• Math: Theorems are the keys that unlock the mystery of geometry.
• Science: Humankind is the crew for Spaceship Earth.
• Social Studies: Tolerance is the salve that heals the wounds of oppression and prejudice.

How can I incorporate similes and metaphors in the classroom?

Your students can create or express metaphors and similes in a variety of multisensory ways: for example, writing, drawing, painting, acting out in a skit, or doing a presentation. You can also pose similes and metaphors as questions to generate student thinking (e.g., "How is a computer database like a library?" or "How is writing an essay like doing a jig-saw puzzle?")

When do I use similes and metaphors?

Increase your students' understanding of new material by using similes and metaphors that connect new concepts with familiar ones. Conversely, use similes and metaphors to approach a familiar topic in a new way. Below is an example of how to use a metaphor to increase student understanding of a new concept.

Sample Metaphor Activity

When teaching the process of scientific experimentation, use the metaphor of solving a mystery: Tell your students that they are all detectives conducting an investigation. Instead of magnifying glasses and bloodhounds, they have lab equipment. Their lab sheets and science journals are their notebooks for keeping track of their "clues." Like detectives, they must analyze the "evidence," form an hypothesis ("identify suspects"), then gather more information by conducting experiments in the lab ("crime scene") before arriving at conclusions and reporting their results. The most effective experiments ("investigations") are systematic, since there are often many possibilities that need to be evaluated one at a time. Scientists and detectives both ask lots of questions, taking care not to make assumptions; they must be objective. As is true for detectives, scientists can study past "cases" to gain insights into a current "mystery." Once students have conducted their experiments and arrived at accurate conclusions, give them "Scientific Sleuth" awards for solving their mystery.

Source: The above concepts are based on the PLS graduate course, Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms (MAGIC), a registered trademark of Performance Learning Systems, Inc.

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