Scientific Metaphors Research Articles

Outlining the Black Box: An Introduction to Four Papers

This is an introduction to a special issue devoted to the black box metaphor in science and technology studies (STS). The author briefly addresses the history of the metaphor and its use in the STS community and provides commentary on four papers contributed by Elizabeth Petrick, Rodolfo Alaniz, Caitlin Wylie, and Valentina Marcheselli.

Metafore migranti e crescita della comunità scientifica: il caso dei paesaggi evolutivi

Migrant metaphors and growth of the scientific community: The case of evolutionary land-scapes. For several decades now, important and in-depth studies have analyzed scientific metaphors, trying for example to determine a principled distinction between metaphors and models. Not a simple task. Several epistemological features are shared between the two. When some distinction is made, metaphors are sometimes seen as preliminary to exact and rigorous mathematical models. In this article I focus on one and only metaphor of biology: evolutionary landscapes. I describe its role in the development of evolutionary science, mov-ing from its success in several fields in the 1930s and ’40s to deepening its origin in the con-text of population genetics. By drawing a distinction between native and migrant metaphor, I provide some elements of reflection on the value of metaphor as a generator of common lan-guage between separated scientific fields, and as a tool for understanding models. In this way I also suggest overcoming the model vs. metaphor opposition, especially the idea that meta-phors are a more rudimental knowledge tool than models.

Economic Harmonies and the Musicality of the Scientific Metaphor

Economic Harmonies and the Musicality of the Scientific Metaphor

Exploring Strategies of Translating Metaphor from English into Arabic with Reference to Scientific Texts

Metaphors play an important role in conveying meaning not only in literary texts but also in scientific genres. Although there have been many translation studies on metaphor in literary texts, studies on metaphor translation in scientific settings seem to have been overlooked and received less attention. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the strategies used in translating scientific metaphors from English to Arabic by Yemeni senior translation students in three universities. This was achieved by using a translation test consisting of (33) metaphors selected from various sources based on Lakoff and Johnsen’s (1980; 2003) classification of metaphor. The test was given to a sample of 91 students who were randomly selected. 72 participants completed the test. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results showed that eight strategies, adapted from Alshunnag (2016), were used. The highly frequent strategy was the literal strategy and the least frequent was the explication strategy. The use of literal strategy indicated the difficulty of finding a metaphorical expression of a different type for the English metaphors in Arabic which might be due to the limited time available for translation and lack of knowledge of the metaphorical structure in both the source and target languages. It was recommended, therefore, that more comparative studies should be done to help improve translation training offered to students who should also be provided with training sessions which are more conducive to learning.

Misled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy

Nancy Leys Stepan’s historical analysis of the analogical reasoning used in nineteenth century research on human variation highlights an interesting feature of scientific discourse: metaphors imported from larger society can negatively impact scientific practice. In this paper, I consider the roles of analogical reasoning in scientific practice and demonstrate how it can mislead the scientists relying on it. One way, the problem of ingrained analogy, results when the correspondences of a metaphor become entrenched in the minds of scientists. Previous solutions, offered by Turbayne (1971) and Recker (2004, 2010), lack the resources to address the problem. Thus, I propose introducing novel critique from relevant outsiders as a method to mitigate the power of scientific metaphors to mislead.

Visual metaphors in medical knowledge representation

Understanding the role of mental images and embodiment in metaphorical thought is fundamental to the study of metaphor in science in general, and in medicine in particular. And analysing typologies of metaphorical images and their function is a key issue in assessing their success in disseminating knowledge, since knowledge construction depends on the interaction between verbal and visual information (Ketola, 2016). In this article, we describe the premises and methodological steps followed in analysing and describing visual metaphorical information in medical texts for lay audiences. We follow a data-driven approach in which images were extracted from the VariMed database, a multimodal terminographical tool for translation, linguistic research and knowledge dissemination. An experiment was carried out to explore how successfully metaphorical images used as illustrations for specific medical concepts were identified and understood. We conclude that metaphorical images were preferred over non-metaphorical illustrations for medical concepts, which may point to lay audiences’ familiarity with metaphorical multimodal references.

Роль медиа в формировании поколений «гамлетов» и «донкихотов» в России

The article is devoted to the cultural specifics of the formation and succession of generations in Russia, starting with the literary circles of the XIX century and ending with the network groups of the XXI cen tury. The literary tradition of describing the phenomenon of conflict between “fathers” and “sons” was laid by the novelist Ivan Turgenev (1860) who argued that generations of “hamlets”, old-fashioned individuals, alternate generations of “don quixotes”, pioneers, rebels. The images of foreign heroes not only remain popular in cinema and theater, but are used by Russian scholars as scientific metaphors for the analysis of the history of generations. The thesis of Lev Vygotsky was devoted to the analysis of the image of Hamlet (1917). It is argued that the change of generations is determined by the disharmonious structure of family in two versions. A strong father with absolute authority, a strong identification with an ideal father in children leads to a generation with a focus on the state ideology and the “father” of peoples, to the generation of “hamlets”. Absent or subdominant father, weak identification with him in children leads to the search for ideals outside the traditional family and moral precepts, to the generation of “don quixotes”. The article provides research data on network interactions that reveals the inertia of the archetypes; the cultural resistance towards the technologies; the reproduction of the generation gap between “hamlets” and “donquixotes”; communication barriers and misunderstandings.

Ciencias <em>inexactas</em> y literaturas <em>exactas</em>. Lo que va del <em>affaire</em> Sokal a la poética de la materia de Bachelard

Los límites entre las humanidades y las ciencias se han desplazado y traspasado en innumerables ocasiones en las últimas décadas. El uso de la ciencia en los estudios humanísticos y de la metáfora cultural en los científicos está abundantemente documentado. Fértiles en especial han sido, por ejemplo, las teorías de la termodinámica (entropía), de la topología, de las catástrofes y de los fractales. El físico y matemático Alan Sokal, sin embargo, denunció la instrumentalización abusiva de la ciencia por ciertos teóricos de la literatura, filósofos y psicoanalistas, entre otros. El escándalo provocado por Sokal en 1996 oculta, no obstante, empleos legítimos de las ciencias por las humanidades, como el que Gaston Bachelard ilustró, tras despejar los obstáculos epistemológicos previos, con su creación de una poética de la materia.

Understanding Curved Spacetime

According to general relativity (GR), we live in a four-dimensional curved universe. Since the human mind cannot visualize those four dimensions, a popular analogy compares the universe to a two-dimensional rubber sheet distorted by massive objects. This analogy is often used when teaching GR to upper secondary and undergraduate physics students. However, physicists and physics educators criticize the analogy for being inaccurate and for introducing conceptual conflicts. Addressing these criticisms, we analyze the rubber sheet analogy through systematic metaphor analysis of textbooks and research literature, and present an empirical analysis of upper secondary school students’ use and understanding of the analogy. Taking a theoretical perspective of embodied cognition allows us to account for the relationship between the experiential and sensory aspects of the metaphor in relation to the abstract nature of spacetime. We employ methods of metaphor and thematic analysis to study written accounts of small groups of 97 students (18–19 years old) who worked with a collaborative online learning environment as part of their regular physics lessons in five classes in Norway. Students generated conceptual metaphors found in the literature as well as novel ones that led to different conceptions of gravity than those held by experts in the field. Even though most students showed awareness of some limitations of the analogy, we observed a conflict between students’ embodied understanding of gravity and the abstract description of GR. This conflict might add to the common perception of GR being counterintuitive. In making explicit strengths and weaknesses of the rubber sheet analogy and learners’ conceptual difficulties, our results offer guidance for teaching GR. More generally, these findings contribute to the epistemological implications of employing specific scientific metaphors in classrooms.

Converging science and literature cultures: learning physics via The Little Prince novella**Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be continually explaining things to them Saint-Exupéry, 1943 [

Primary level education follows a pedagogy model where literature and science have been historically separated. Natural children processes are disrupted, as learning based on play curiosity is completely transformed by a chalkboard model. Specific experimental realizations can link thinking processes based on science to study problems contextualized by literature. Converging the essences of these two cultures has the potential to enhance the education experience, dramatically. This paper proposes a new didactic strategy using experimental demonstrations based on The Little Prince story, providing a journey through different philosophical questions about nature and Universe laws. Therefore, the story is used as a scientific metaphor applied to a teaching-learning situation. A workshop was implemented to a group of 26 students attending sixth grade (mean age = 12 years old), from two primary schools located in Heredia, Costa Rica. In order to evaluate the sessions’ performance, Pearson’s test for independence was used to contrast association within a set of variables related to perception of learning processes and emerging interest in science. Overall 77% of the students perceived an increased interest in science, despite gender characteristics. Curiously, a gender association was observed related to the preferences girls and boys have for specific experimental demonstrations. Additionally, 92% of the students perceived learning of scientific concepts after the sessions delivered. Our research establishes a new didactic strategy with the potential to break historical pedagogical patterns and could pave the way into integration of contrasting disciplines.

A Metaphor Analysis Study Related to STEM Subjects Based on Middle School Students’ Perceptions

The aim of this study is to determine what metaphors seventh and eighth grade students have when they identify STEM subjects. For this purpose, a form was developed to provide students to write their own metaphors related to STEM subjects. Qualitative research method was used and this research was conducted as a phenomenological study. 94 seventh and eighth grade students participated in this study from two different middle schools, which are located in the center of Ankara, Turkey. Students were encouraged to write their metaphors to identify STEM subjects. It has been seen that both seventh and eighth grade students had complexity while they were identifying science and technology subjects. Students used technology metaphor eleven times while they identified science, and they used science metaphor five times while they identified technology. It has also been learnt from students’ metaphors that students have not had enough information on math and engineering since the metaphors could not explain these subjects. It is recommended that some courses might be given to students within STEM subjects to provide them to learn those subjects.

Science and Poetry

Emotionality and rationality or differences and consensus regarding the basic units of the semantic plan of art and science. Relationship of the language and extra-linguistic area in scientific knowledge and poetry. Particularities of the poetic language and the language of science. Image and abstraction: a different ability of our spirit to reflect the world. The presence of metaphors in philosophy and natural sciences as a transcendence of common experience. Interactive understanding of metaphor and its pitfalls. Is metaphor usable in science and does it have a cognitive function?

Knowledge transfer without knowledge? The case of agentive metaphors in biology

Are scientific metaphors dispensable shortcuts that encapsulate knowledge but can always be translated back? Or do they constitute cases of knowledge transfer, even if seemingly based on scientifically underdeveloped domains? This paper defends the latter view. By drawing on the linguistic theories of metaphors, we assess a variety of agentive metaphors that pervade biology. Intentional metaphors are found unsatisfying because their use is either rigid or too widely flexible. By contrast, rational agent metaphors constitute good scientific metaphors, displaying flexible use and heuristic fruitfulness. Their range of application constantly evolves because they provide guidelines that permit the exploration of the applicability of source domain in a target domain. Their unique heuristic value makes them akin to research programs and allows for knowledge transfer, because they are based on a proper scientific source domain rather than on a folk or underdeveloped one.

The Suns in Our Daughters.

A personal narrative is provided in which the author reflects on her experience in teaching science to girls while in the U.S. Peace Corps in Guinea, including the challenges women face in Guinea from male dominance, metaphors in science and the potential of undereducated girls.

LAYERS AND LEVELS: What a Column of Water Tells Us about Human Cognition

The notion of levels can be found in many everyday expressions, such as top-level destination, entry-level sales, low-level panic, high risk level, basic-level research, high level of care, level of meaning, level of knowledge, level of freedom, and level of importance. I argue that these are metaphorical expressions in which the respective abstract concepts can be understood in terms of the more palpable experience of the levels to which we are accustomed through the handling of liquids. By looking at the interaction between SCALE and ITERATION image schemas, this article examines an embodied interpretation of levels, layers and water columns in the context of containers to facilitate a better understanding of these experiences and their use as a source domain for conceptual metaphors in language, science and mathematics. The conceptual analysis in this paper is limited to English expressions.

Особенности политической научной метафоры (на материале научной статьи А.Дж. Грегора «Корни революционной идеологии»)

Особенности политической научной метафоры (на материале научной статьи А.Дж. Грегора «Корни революционной идеологии»)

Metaphors of Climate Science in Three Genres: Research Articles, Educational Texts, and Secondary School Student Talk

Experts are generally in agreement that anthropogenic climate change is happening and will increase in severity, but this view is not clearly reflected in more non-specialist texts. Research has shown that school students have a limited and sometimes faulty understanding of climate change. Metaphors are used by scientists in developing thought and communicating with non-scientists; they are also used by educators. This research investigates students’ understandings of climate change by comparing metaphor use in three corpora, of research articles, student educational materials, and of transcribed interviews with school students aged 11–16 from the north of England. We find that some metaphors are shared by the three corpora; where this happens, the researchers’ use tends to be highly conventionalized and technical, while educational materials extend and explore metaphors, and the students’ use is still more creative, sometimes resulting in inaccurate descriptions of the science. Students also develop some of their own distinctive metaphors based on their immediate concrete experience, and possibly on visual educational materials; these metaphors convey highly simplified and often inaccurate understandings of climate science.

Teaching Scientific Metaphors Through Informational Text Read‐Alouds

AbstractElementary students are expected to use various features of informational texts to build knowledge in the content areas. In science informational texts, scientific metaphors are commonly used to make sense of complex and invisible processes. Although elementary students may be familiar with literary metaphors as used in narratives, they may be less familiar with how metaphors function in science. In this article, the authors describe how teaching with scientific metaphor during informational text read‐alouds can help elementary students become more cognizant of scientific metaphoricity and develop scientific literacy. Practical examples from two elementary classrooms are included.

LANDASAN PEMIKIRAN IMPLEMENTASI SISTEM MANAJEMEN MUTU ISO 9001:2008 DI FITK UIN MALANG

<span class="fontstyle0">This study aims to examine the foundation of the implementation of ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management System in improving the quality of learning in the Faculty of<br />Tarbiyah and Teacher Training (FITK) UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, the results can be summarized as follows: 1) Making the concept of “Ulul Albab” as a jargon that would be manifested in the form of an educational program under the umbrella of “Ulul Albab”. 2) Realizing a scientific structure that integrates science and Islam with the Tree<br />of Science Metaphor. 3) Trying to anticipate the challenges of higher education both on the national macro and global competition. 4) Realizing organizational health (organization health), to develop academic freedom, innovation, creativity and knowledge sharing. 5) Applying quality assurance consistently. 6) Determined to apply quality culture by implementing QMS ISO 9001: 2008 as international standard quality standard. 7) Implementing the International Quality Management System Organization for Standardization (SSNI ISO) 9001: 2008 to achieve the quality standard of education. 8) Conduct internal audit for continuous improvement of quality (continual improvement). 9) Anticipate various organizational changes at any time and periodic. 10) The ability of leaders to have the vision and confidence to realize his vision. 11) Making the values of the Qur'an (the concept of ihsan: doing better) as the cornerstone of the implementation of the quality management system. 12) Implement the main principles of the quality management system: "Write down what is done and do what is written". 13) Implement a systematic and continuous quality assurance system. 14) The purpose of quality assurance to ensure: compliance, certainty, and relevance. 15) Stipulate the quality points refer to the quality of UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang. 16) Determined to make quality assurance in academic service.<br /></span><span class="fontstyle2">Keywords: </span><span class="fontstyle0">Platform, Thought, QMS, Quality, Learning.</span>

Geography, materialism, and the neo-vitalist turn

In her article ‘Rethinking the subject, reimagining worlds,’ Susan M. Ruddick adds to a growing body of geographical literature that adopts a neo-vitalist approach to the understanding of nature and the human subject. In this brief article we suggest that whilst Ruddick’s argument raises many interesting points it is nonetheless hampered by a limited engagement with the historiography of scientific metaphors and the wider ethical and political tensions engendered by a contemporary recourse to vitalist ontologies.