Mathematics Education Seminar — Mathematical Analogies

Andrew Beltaos / Amenda Chow
University of Waterloo / York University

Teaching via analogies builds upon students' existing knowledge. New concepts that are taught only within the context of mathematics may seem foreign to students at first glance, but if students have already learned analogous concepts elsewhere in life, as educators, we can make use of their existing framework to strengthen their learning. 

In this talk, we will present a selection of analogies that we have used in our undergraduate mathematics classes and discuss features of good (and bad) analogies. Time for group discussions will be provided and we encourage attendees to share analogies they have used in their own teaching.