An example of an analogy drawing on a scientific concept:
"Despite all normal adult human beings having a similar severe limit on working memory, an expert in a field is able to deal with much more complex and extensive information than a novice. This effect is explained by something called 'chunking' which refers to how material represented in memory can be 'chunked' into more complex structures that can be accessed from memory as a single unit. We might think, by way of analogy, of how a complex ion might comprise a central cation linked to a number (perhaps 4 or 6) of ligands. Not only can we treat a species such as [Cu(H2O)6]2+ as a unitary chemical object for purposes of chemical discourse, but also the expert can mentipulate their concept of this species as a single mental object."
Mea culpa: the aim here was to explain an idea to readers who were likely to know about chemistry (as they were reading a book about chemistry teaching) by using a chemical context to give an analogy for a idea from the learning sciences.
Read examples of scientific analogies
Many examples of science analogies are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.
