JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 29, NO. 6, P. 535 (1992) Editorial On “Analogy, Explanation, and Education” In this issue Paul Thagard, well-known science philosopherkognitive scientist at Princeton University, looks at analogical thinking within a cognitive science perspective. He explains analogical thinking in terms of three constraints on how analogs seem to correspond to each other. Thagard’s earlier work in philosophy of sciencekognitive science, especially his joint work with Holland et al. (Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery, 1986) is relevant to science education. Work in cognitive science/artificial intelligence, although not generally sensitive to affective and social factors that are important to science education, can provide important insights into cognitive aspects of science learning. The 1986 book on Induction by Thagard and his colleagues, for example, contains ideas on prediction, explanation, analogy, and other inductive mech- anisms of scientific discovery that should be of interest to all persons interested in science learning and teaching. I am pleased that Paul Thagard has contributed his ideas on analogy to JRST in the form of his brief article in this issue. Science education literature is enriched by collaborative efforts with scholars in related discplines such as philosophy, artificial intelligence, anthropology, and so on. RON GOOD Editor 0 1992’by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0022-4308/92/060535-01$04.00

Editorial. On “analogy, explanation, and education”

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JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 29, NO. 6, P. 535 (1992)

Editorial

On “Analogy, Explanation, and Education”

In this issue Paul Thagard, well-known science philosopherkognitive scientist at Princeton University, looks at analogical thinking within a cognitive science perspective. He explains analogical thinking in terms of three constraints on how analogs seem to correspond to each other.

Thagard’s earlier work in philosophy of sciencekognitive science, especially his joint work with Holland et al. (Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery, 1986) is relevant to science education. Work in cognitive science/artificial intelligence, although not generally sensitive to affective and social factors that are important to science education, can provide important insights into cognitive aspects of science learning. The 1986 book on Induction by Thagard and his colleagues, for example, contains ideas on prediction, explanation, analogy, and other inductive mech- anisms of scientific discovery that should be of interest to all persons interested in science learning and teaching.

I am pleased that Paul Thagard has contributed his ideas on analogy to JRST in the form of his brief article in this issue. Science education literature is enriched by collaborative efforts with scholars in related discplines such as philosophy, artificial intelligence, anthropology, and so on.

RON GOOD Editor

0 1992’by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0022-4308/92/060535-01$04.00