Metaphor as a Method for Engaging Learners
by Dr. Karl Smart, Central Michigan University

When someone suggests teaching metaphors, a typical reaction may be to think that this is a subject relegated to an English department and the teaching of literature or creative writing.  Yet metaphors can be a powerful teaching strategy in any discipline.  This article briefly discusses what metaphors are and suggests how they might be used in different content areas to demonstrate various principles.

Simply stated, a metaphor is a comparison.  Attributes of one object are applied in the discussion or description of another object.  For instance, I typically introduce the concept to a class by writing a simple metaphor on the board: “Dr. Smart is a pig.”  As a class, we discuss what this means.  It may describe my eating habits, the way I keep my office or room, my appearance or cleanliness, and so forth.  In this instance, attributes of pigs are used to describe me.

We also discuss how often we use common metaphors in daily conversations.  Consider the following phrases or actions: “Neck of the woods;” “Foot of a mountain;”  “Head of a department;”  “Broke my heart;” “Bouncing off the walls.”  Even the ways used to describe what’s happening with students or in a class utilize metaphor: “Let’s weave the concepts together;” “My class is a zoo;”  “This student is really blossoming;”  “That class is falling behind.”  Or, consider frequently-used computer terms such as cut, copy, and paste or files and folders.  What metaphors allow us to do is view an aspect of one concept in terms of another one, often moving from something familiar to something less familiar.

The following activity, something I call the Jigsaw Puzzle Brain Spark, introduces the concept of teams as a metaphor,.  I place pieces of a puzzle on a visualizer or overhead projector (or distribute puzzle pieces to the class) and I ask students to write down individually all the ways they see that the puzzle pieces are similar to how an effective team is created and functions.  Note, I’m using something most all students are familiar with—a puzzle—and asking them to think how the puzzle is similar to something else—an effective team.  Typically, I have students write down responses and then use a pair-share approach where they stand, pair off with one other person in the class, and share lists.  We then talk about the similarities as a class.  Consider some of the responses I’ve received from students:

• Puzzles have boundaries (straight-edged pieces and corners) as do effective teams (ground rules or operating assumptions).
• Each piece of the puzzle is unique (like people) and has its own part of the picture to add.
• Some puzzle pieces are outward, others more inward (but both are important—as are differences in people, some being more extroverted and others introverted).
• It’s sometimes helpful to see the whole picture in order to deduce where the pieces fit in, just as teams need a clear vision of where they’re headed to successfully complete the subtasks along the way to the overall goal.
• No single piece has the whole picture, just as no one person has all the answers.
• The “solution” (both to puzzles and to team projects) is sometimes fragile.

The comparisons serve as a framework and expand the vocabulary for discussing teamwork throughout the semester.

Using metaphors is as simple as finding connections to the world around us.  For instance, students in a biology class may be asked to compare a cell with an elementary school building, looking for corollaries to cell walls, a nucleus, ribosomes, etc.  Or, a human anatomy class could be asked to find similarities between a circulatory system and plumbing, with the heart as a pump, veins as pipes, and so forth.  Finally, students in an organizational behavior class could view organizations as organisms, finding links with concepts such as environmental conditions, life cycles, recycling, homeostasis, evolution, survival of the fittest, health, illness, and so on. 

In a business graphics class, I asked students to demonstrate the concept of typography through creating a metaphor that completed the statement, “Typography is . . . .”  Many of the responses surprised and delighted me:

1. . . . personality on paper (subliminal and emotional).
2. . . . like a musical instrument (you can have the same melody but it sounds different on a flute or a banjo).
3. . . . like background music in a movie—it makes you feel differently.
4. . . . like clothing—you can have a shirt but textures, color, and cloth make for a different look and feel.

The examples in this article should not imply that there is always a one-to-one comparison with metaphors.  That is, just as important as the similarities are the differences, where attributes are excluded and don’t relate.  A discussion of how the elements of a metaphor differ can be as helpful to students’ understanding of concepts and ideas as similarities.  So, if you’re looking for a fresh, unique way to introduce a concept or topic in a class, consider using a metaphor to start the discussion.  Or, better yet, build a metaphor together as a class to find new connections and facilitate deeper understanding.