The language-based analogical reasoning abilities of Deaf children are a controversial topic. Researchers lack agreement about whether Deaf children possess the ability to reason using language-based analogies, or whether this ability is limited by a lack of access to vocabulary, both written and signed. This dissertation examines factors that scaffold the development of language-based analogical reasoning through signed language. First it examines how background factors, such as age, race/ethnicity, or additional disabilities can affect the development of language-based analogical reasoning. Second, it looks at how different kinds of American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary support the development of language-based analogical reasoning. Five-hundred and fifty-six Deaf children were given five tasks from the ASL Assessment Instrument; one analogies task and four vocabulary tasks: an antonyms task, a synonyms task, a definitions task, and a contextual-based vocabulary task. The data showed that background traits can and do affect how well Deaf children reason using language-based analogies. The most important predictor of performance on the analogies task was ASL vocabulary knowledge, although other factors such as age, race/ethnicity, and additional disabilities can impact task performance. The data also showed that ASL vocabulary knowledge that promotes metalinguistic thinking is the best predictor of language-based analogical reasoning abilities. Potential applications to the classroom and to teacher training are also discussed.

What is metaphor and how do we learn to think analogically? Education by Metaphor explores these questions from two perspectives: poetics and curriculum theorizing. Through this discursive inquiry, I develop arguments and hypotheses on the origins, mechanics, and educative possibilities of metaphor, often by drawing from Zwicky’s philosophical work and interviews I conducted with six Canadian writers. I sought conversations with these writers because the works they publish display deft and provocative analogical play. I wanted to know what they know about metaphor, and how they came to know such things, and how these ideas inform their critical, artistic, and pedagogical practices. I also asked for their thoughts on particular discursive conflicts and metaphoric models, and I asked them about their curricular experiences, both formal and otherwise. Excerpts from these transcripts are interwoven throughout the manuscript, according to their connections with the topics at hand. The first chapter of this dissertation traces metaphor’s discursive history and delineates its conflict with philosophy. From that foundation, I critique contemporary models for metaphor that stem from Black’s and Richards’ theorizing; after explaining why they are ill-suited to poetic terrain, I develop a less reductive model. Much of this work informs subsequent chapters, hence its preliminary positioning. In the second chapter I approach metaphor anthropologically and advance hypotheses for how we, as a species, might have come to think metaphorically. These hypotheses emphasize empathy and anthropomorphism, two important notions nested within the inner-workings of analogical thought. In turn, these hypotheses inform the third chapter’s explorations of poetic and ontological attention. This theoretical work reveals concepts integrally related to metaphor’s emergence, for example aesthetic experience, defamiliarization, and the interplay of pattern and anomaly. In the fourth chapter, I revisit these concepts from a more empirical perspective and use comments from my interviewees to illuminate intersections amongst play, pedagogy, and analogical thought. Lastly, the fifth chapter asks, what good is the study of metaphor? I respond to this question by addressing metaphor’s imaginative, ethical, and educational consequences. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-02-19 12:13:38.213

Este trabalho recupera elementos do Sufismo via mística originalmente islâmica , nota-­ damente da obra de Ibn \'Arabî, e busca inseri-­los no contexto da sociedade e do pensa-­ mento atuais a fim de pensar as primeiras linhas de um modelo pedagógico voltado para a singularidade e a cidadania. / The present paper brings back subjects found in Sufism, especially the works of Ibn \'Arabî, and tries to integrate them into the context of present society and contemporary thought, in order to sketch the first lines of a pedagogical model directed towards singularity and citizenship.

Este trabalho discute o papel do pensamento analógico e da afetividade na atribuição de significados e compreensão de conceitos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem em Matemática sob a perspectiva teórica. O uso de analogia em educação coloca em evidência relações estruturais entre elementos similares de domínios diferentes, enriquecendo o entendimento dos conteúdos abordados. Neste contexto, estudou-se a Heurística e em particular o caráter heurístico da analogia em resolução de problemas, o que releva ainda a relação entre tal forma de raciocínio e o conceito de similaridade em atribuição de significados no universo educacional matemático. Por fim, o presente trabalho teorizou o tema afetividade a partir de três constructos, a saber, crenças, atitudes e emoção, visando auxiliar ações que propiciem apreensão e compreensão dos objetos matemáticos. / This research discusses the role of analogical thinking and affectivity on attribution of meaning and understanding of concepts in the teaching/learning process of mathematics from the theoretical perspective. The use of analogy in education evinces structural relations between similar elements of different domains, enriching the understanding of concepts approached in such a situation. In this context, it considers Heuristics and, in particular, heuristic features of analogies on problem solving, which also brings out the relationship between such a reasoning and the concept of similarity in attributing meanings in mathematics education contexts. Eventually, this study theorized the subject affection from three constructs, namely, beliefs, attitudes and emotion in order to support actions that encorage apprehension and understanding of mathematical objects.

Este trabalho discute o papel do pensamento analógico e da afetividade na atribuição de significados e compreensão de conceitos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem em Matemática sob a perspectiva teórica. O uso de analogia em educação coloca em evidência relações estruturais entre elementos similares de domínios diferentes, enriquecendo o entendimento dos conteúdos abordados. Neste contexto, estudou-se a Heurística e em particular o caráter heurístico da analogia em resolução de problemas, o que releva ainda a relação entre tal forma de raciocínio e o conceito de similaridade em atribuição de significados no universo educacional matemático. Por fim, o presente trabalho teorizou o tema afetividade a partir de três constructos, a saber, crenças, atitudes e emoção, visando auxiliar ações que propiciem apreensão e compreensão dos objetos matemáticos. / This research discusses the role of analogical thinking and affectivity on attribution of meaning and understanding of concepts in the teaching/learning process of mathematics from the theoretical perspective. The use of analogy in education evinces structural relations between similar elements of different domains, enriching the understanding of concepts approached in such a situation. In this context, it considers Heuristics and, in particular, heuristic features of analogies on problem solving, which also brings out the relationship between such a reasoning and the concept of similarity in attributing meanings in mathematics education contexts. Eventually, this study theorized the subject affection from three constructs, namely, beliefs, attitudes and emotion in order to support actions that encorage apprehension and understanding of mathematical objects.

This study explores the application of the dialogue seminar method within a doctoral programme KTH Advanced Programme in Reflective Practice of the research area of Skill and technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. In order to understand distinctive features of the dialogue seminar method the study starts with a survey of how the method and its spirit were affected by the history of ideas related to the research area, of which many were generated within the intellectual milieu gathered around the Dialogue seminar of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and cultural journal Dialoger. The dialogue seminar method stands for a well thought out idea about what the link between skills, literature, philosophy, history of ideas, art and science is made up of. This idea is expressed in the way the dialogue is conducted; various topics are explored through associations, digressions and deviations form the subject. This indirect approach to reflection is called analogical thinking in contrast to the thinking based on deduction or induction. Analogical thinking prevails in judgement and action. It is also of great significance in e.g. development projects, in arts, all sorts of problem-solving, and those phases of research that call for inventiveness and imagination. The Dialogue Seminar’s Research Milieu brings up new questions about the possibilities of pursuing scientific or methodological reflection by means of analogical thinking and about the status of classical humanistic readings within the post graduate education. / QC 20100629

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel” – a cliché, often told when you want to come up with something new that in someway can be connected to something that already exist. This study shows the opposite – that inventions emanate from what is given. It can be a detail, a problem in a thing - a wheel - or a situation that catches the inventor’s attention. It is something that seeks a solution or something that generates an idea, a hint or a clue of something new and useful. The art of invention emerges from the ability and skill to broaden the seeing and put thinking, substance and tradition into motion. An old radio dial generates a new ergonomic steering wheel. The connection of memories between a chestnut, a cello and an early morning at a water pump creates three works of art. The epistemology of this study is based on a dialogue between voices from different times and traditions. Some voices are normative examples, drawn from a dialogue between Swedish inventors. The others are those of philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment, fetched from their original writings. Through that dialogue, perspectives and ideas of inventors and classical philosophers meet and are compared. A deeper understanding thus emerges that shows the essence of invention and in fact the essence of all creative work: i) Freedom – in thought and in action ii) Dialogue - to test and try new ideas and things in the ever changing circumstances. iii) Doubt - not taking established fact and assumptions for granted iv) Action – testing and breaking established praxis and rules. The study also illustrates the need for an alternative scientific form and expression concerning studies in the fields of invention, innovation and other practical work. Invention can not be captured or shaped by exact measurements, concepts, definitions or abstract models. It takes place in the borderland between fact and fiction, where technique, aesthetics and philosophy are one working entity. The strive for knowledge is endless and without limits and it is nurtured by wondering, searching and ambiguity. With inspiration from the dialogue seminar method used within KTH Advanced Programme in Reflective Practice – this study point out the actuality and vitality in using the classical philosophical writings, dialogue and analogical thinking as a scientific method within higher education.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel” – a cliché, often told when you want to come up with something new that in someway can be connected to something that already exist. This study shows the opposite – that inventions emanate from what is given. It can be a detail, a problem in a thing - a wheel - or a situation that catches the inventor’s attention. It is something that seeks a solution or something that generates an idea, a hint or a clue of something new and useful. The art of invention emerges from the ability and skill to broaden the seeing and put thinking, substance and tradition into motion. An old radio dial generates a new ergonomic steering wheel. The connection of memories between a chestnut, a cello and an early morning at a water pump creates three works of art. The epistemology of this study is based on a dialogue between voices from different times and traditions. Some voices are normative examples, drawn from a dialogue between Swedish inventors. The others are those of philosophers from the Age of Enlightenment, fetched from their original writings. Through that dialogue, perspectives and ideas of inventors and classical philosophers meet and are compared. A deeper understanding thus emerges that shows the essence of invention and in fact the essence of all creative work: i) Freedom – in thought and in action ii) Dialogue - to test and try new ideas and things in the ever changing circumstances. iii) Doubt - not taking established fact and assumptions for granted iv) Action – testing and breaking established praxis and rules. The study also illustrates the need for an alternative scientific form and expression concerning studies in the fields of invention, innovation and other practical work. Invention can not be captured or shaped by exact measurements, concepts, definitions or abstract models. It takes place in the borderland between fact and fiction, where technique, aesthetics and philosophy are one working entity. The strive for knowledge is endless and without limits and it is nurtured by wondering, searching and ambiguity. With inspiration from the dialogue seminar method used within KTH Advanced Programme in Reflective Practice – this study point out the actuality and vitality in using the classical philosophical writings, dialogue and analogical thinking as a scientific method within higher education. / QC 20100826

This dissertation discusses the transfer of practical knowledge as seen in the practises of conservatory teachers at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. It is based on material from three series of dialogue seminars conducted with teachers and students. The aim of the dialogue seminar is to bring a practitioner’s personal style of relating to a profession into a form which makes it possible for the practitioner and others to reflect upon. Using the participants’ texts and the seminar protocols as a starting point the dissertation develops some of the themes which emerged. It is divided into three parts: The first discusses conservatory teachers’ relationship to language. Examples include the teachers’ use of indirect ways to »work around« a problem rather than addressing it directly, the use of metaphors and figures of speech, and the fields of disagreement that surround certain central concepts. These disagreements exist within a »thought-style« shared by practitioners of a profession. The second part develops some of the paradoxes inevitably encountered in practical music making and musical education. Examples include planning-spontaniety, simplicity-complexity, reflection-action, clarity-truth, breadth-depth. It is argued that the way in which practitioners’ handle and relate to such »paradoxical fields« constitute an essential part of mature professional skills. The third part discusses the nature of practical knowledge, especially its relationship to the rules that can be established to help transmit such knowledge. The wittgensteinian image of basic rules, which are followed in a way that can not be described in rules, is contrasted by an image in which the learner gains access to patterns of action which are handled on the basis of the percieved meaning of the actions. / QC 20100923

Este trabalho recupera elementos do Sufismo via mística originalmente islâmica , nota-­ damente da obra de Ibn \'Arabî, e busca inseri-­los no contexto da sociedade e do pensa-­ mento atuais a fim de pensar as primeiras linhas de um modelo pedagógico voltado para a singularidade e a cidadania. / The present paper brings back subjects found in Sufism, especially the works of Ibn \'Arabî, and tries to integrate them into the context of present society and contemporary thought, in order to sketch the first lines of a pedagogical model directed towards singularity and citizenship.