EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES: ANCHORING EXAMPLES AND BRIDGING

EXAMPLES

PART ONE

A. Anchoring Examples and Bridging Analogies

Use of anchoring examples and bridging analogies are strategies that may
be helpful when a student finds a concept especially implausible but thinks
that a related concept is obviously true. The concept that the student
already accepts becomes the anchoring example. The teaching task
becomes to use lab activities, discussion, or other approaches to help the
student build a bridge between the anchoring example and the target
concept. The pieces of this bridge are called "bridging analogies."

Here is an example with vision for young children.

Many children believe that the role of light in vision is only to "light up" an
object, making it visible. They have no idea that the light must be scattered
from the object into the eye in order for vision to occur. Many of these
children will say that light travels to an object from a light source, such as a
lamp, and "just stays there." [Note: When light strikes a very smooth object,
like a mirror, light is said to be reflected by the object: the light emerges in a
"coherent" way as opposed to the helter-skelter scattering of incident light
by rough objects. (Mirrors are good examples of the former, rugs of the
latter.)]

The objective here is for children to build an understanding that some light is
scattered from (or by) objects, rather than all of the light just stopping (i.e.
being absorbed).

1. First we look for an anchoring example of reflection or scattering that

most children will readily accept. Many children will already believe
that light reflects from mirrors. (You can question them as a group to
determine this belief.) To help reinforce this understanding and to
demonstrate mirror reflection to all of the children, let them play with
mirrors. They can shine flashlights into wall mirrors and watch the
spots of reflected light move across the opposite wall. Or they can hold
small hand mirrors and make spots of light on the walls and ceiling by
reflecting lamplight or sunlight. Perhaps several children together can
make their spots of light "play tag."
2. Question the students again about the reflection and scattering of
light. Most of them will believe in mirror-reflection but not in scattering
from other surfaces. Ask them if they think we can light up an object
 (say, an apple or a small toy) in an otherwise dark room by bouncing
(reflecting) light from a mirror onto the object. If they say "yes" (most
will), then ask them if we can light up the same object by scattering
light from a piece of paper onto it. Emphasize that you are talking
about plain, non-shiny paper. Many of the children will likely say that
this lighting up of an object is not possible.
3. Demonstrate the phenomenon in a darkened room, with a flashlight, a
white piece of paper, and an object. Many of the children will see that
light does scatter from a non-shiny object. Some will think that the
white color of the paper is a special case, that light wouldn't scatter
from paper of other colors. Use paper of other colors, preferably light
colors like pink or yellow, to show that white light is indeed scattered
from the colored paper. This demonstration may also provide an
opportunity to begin an exploration of color and light.

In this activity, understanding that light is reflected by "shiny" objects is the

target concept and the reflection of light from mirrors is the anchoring
example. The demonstration of light scattered by paper (and thence
illuminating other objects) provides the bridge.

As with any strategy, this activity will leave some children unconvinced. But
those who now accept that light reflects from shiny objects are ready to
begin constructing a concept of vision more like that of scientists.

Another Example of a Bridging Analogy

Target Concept: A table exerts an upward force on a book resting on the

table.

Anchoring Example: We feel a spring "push up" as we push down on it.

Bridging Analogy: Pushing down on surfaces of various "springiness." For

example: a foam rubber pad and a long flexible board supported at both
ends.

(See Workshop Six, Section 4 for another example of a Bridging Analogy.)

PART TWO

A. Anchoring Examples and Bridging Analogies

Another example of "bridging analogies" as a teaching strategy can be found

in the materials for Workshop Five: "Can We Believe Our Own Eyes?" (PART
ONE) This strategy may be effective when the student finds a concept
especially implausible but thinks that a related concept is obviously true. The
concept that the student already accepts becomes the anchoring example.
The teaching task becomes to use lab activities, discussion, or other
approaches to help the student build a bridge between the anchoring
example and the target concept. The pieces of this bridge are called bridging
analogies. Here is an example with bodies in motion. This example will also
help develop students' skills in graphing and extrapolating from data.

In this approach we take a cue from Galileo. The target concept that we want
the students to understand is contained in Newton's first law of motion. (See
Section 3, Part B: "Historical Ideas" for discussions of Galileo and Newton.)
The anchoring example is a phenomenon that, according to the research,
most children believe. This phenomenon is embodied in the fact that a ball
rolled on a surface of high friction will quickly come to a stop. The bridge to
the target concept is built by rolling the same ball with the same initial force
on surfaces of less and less friction. As the students graph the results, they
may come to see that the ball could roll on "forever" if all friction could be
removed. Even though we can never completely remove friction from the
exercise, we can help make Newton's law more plausible for many of the
students.

Materials for Experiment

1. Marbles or small balls of uniform size and weight.

2. Surfaces of various degrees of friction. These surfaces could include
lengths of deep pile carpet, medium pile carpet, flat indoor-outdoor
carpet, rough wood, polished wood, tile, etc. If performed outdoors,
surfaces could also include deep sand, loose dirt, tall grass, freshly-
mowed grass, and concrete. In all cases, care must be taken to
determine that the surface is level.
3. A "starter." The starter device must be able to start the ball rolling with
about or nearly the same force each time. The spring-loaded plunger
from an old pinball machine would be more than adequate. (This
device propels the steel ball into the body of the pinball machine at the
start of each game.) The teacher and students could also try to invent
a good starter from rubber bands, based on the principle of a sling-
shot. In this case the model should not be a very strong sling-shot. In
the absence of a mechanical device, a student or the teacher could
start the ball each time with a flick of a finger, attempting to duplicate
the force on the marble with each start. This last method, however,
raises the conscious or unconscious suspicion of bias or "cheating" on
the part of the starter.

Method

Predict: Before rolling the marbles or balls over the various surfaces, the
teacher asks the students to predict what will happen. Do they expect the
balls to roll farther over some surfaces, less over others? Which surfaces will
permit longer "trips" by the balls and why?

Measure and Record: During the exercise the "starter" is used to propel
the marble or ball over each of the surfaces. Students should carefully
measure and record the length traveled by the ball in each trial. For further
accuracy, several tries can be made over each surface and the results
averaged.

Graph Data: After all of the measurements are recorded, students can work
alone, in small groups, or as a class to graph these data. A graph can be
created with the lengths traveled on one axis plotted against the various
surfaces on the other axis. Arrange the graph so that the data on it progress
monotonically from the shortest trip to the longest one. Ask the students
how well the data fit their predictions. Ask them to explain the pattern they
see in their graphs.

Discuss: By drawing a curve through the data points, students can infer that
the ball rolls farther across surfaces that offer less "resistance." This
resistance is called "friction." By extending the curve, you can help the
students extrapolate to the behavior of a ball rolling across an ideal
frictionless surface. As with any strategy, this activity will leave some
children unconvinced. Some students, however, may come to accept that in
a frictionless situation, the ball would roll "forever" without stopping-if the
surface were long enough.