The statement "a picture is worth a thousand words" has haunted writers for ages. It gives photographers a leg up on their counterparts, since photographers only have to find the right angle and lighting to convey what could take even the most skilled writer a couple of pages to convey.

I just finished listening to an audio presentation from Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. At the end of the presentation, one statement stood out in my mind as a great take home message. "While a picture might be worth a thousand words, a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures."

My challenge- to find great metaphors in science!

What is it about metaphors that makes them so vivid? Take a look at the following example. Strange Maps has a fascinating map of the United States that shows each state renamed for a country with a similar GDP. Based on this re-framing, maybe the U.S. should invade Alabama instead of Iran. It's closer. Everybody speaks English (sort of). And it has pretty much the same sized economy.
After taking a look at this example, it drives home the point that metaphors are powerful. They put things in context using the knowledge of the learner as a foundation for learning new content.

So why aren't metaphors used more in science? Perhaps metaphors is English or geography are easier to come by, but there have got to be some great analogies to use in science.

Regular readers know that I'm obsessed with making science easier for students. That is why, for the next couple weeks, I'm going to wrap my brain around this topic and figure out some of the clearest metaphors I can for a high school chemstry class.

I've already seen two great metaphors at the summer chemistry institute I am co-teaching at Rice University. John Hutchinson , Professor of Chemistry at Rice, is one of the best teachers I've seen at any level. He skillfully showed the high school students how atomic structure was determined much like throwing tennis balls at a bowling ball suspended in the middle of a room. And today it was magnets to demonstrate ionization energy. Both of these I will elaborate on in later posts, along with a metaphor for electronegativity.

Stay tuned...

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