Analogical Reasoning in Children by Usha Goswami

Analogical Reasoning in Children by Usha Goswami

Analogical reasoning is a fundamental cognitive skill, involved in classification, learning, problem-solving and creative thinking, and should be a basic building block of cognitive development. However, for a long time researchers have believed that children are incapable of reasoning by analogy. This book argues that this is far from the case, and that analogical reasoning may be available very early in development. Recent research has shown that even 3-year-olds can solve analogies, and that infants can reason about relational similarity, which is the hallmark of analogy. The book traces the roots of the popular misconceptions about children's analogical abilities and argues that when children fail to use analogies, it is because they do not understand the relations underlying the analogy rather than because they are incapable of analogical reasoning. The author argues that young children spontaneously use analogies in learning, and that their analogies can sometimes lead them into misconceptions. In the "real worlds" of their classrooms, children use analogies when learning basic skills like reading, and even babies seem to use analogies to learn about the world around them.

`According to Piaget and many other researchers, it is not until adolescence that a child can be expected to solve a classical analogy such as: "The seventh inning stretch is to baseball as the tea break is to ULULULUL" In this gracefully written and informative book, Usha Goswami challenges this long-standing view. The book has many strengths, the foremost of which is that Goswami has a coherent position that she states clearly. The book is very well organized and well written: the main claim of each chapter is stated forthrightly at the beginning and reviewed at the end of the chapter. The readability of the book is facilitated by Goswami's nonencyclopedic approach and her judicious selection of representative research on analogy.' - Judy S. DeLoache in Contemporary Psychology, 1995.

`In sum, it is an interesting book, clearly written and full of imagination, recommended even to those who are not very concerned with analogies or with children.' - Pablo Fernandez (University of Malaga) in the European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 1994.

Jaideva C. Goswami, PhD, is an Engineering Advisor at Schlumberger in Sugarland, Texas. He is also a former professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Dr. Goswami has taught several short courses on wavelets and contributed to the Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering as well as Wiley Encyclopedia of RF and Microwave Engineering. He has many research papers and patents to his credit, and is a Fellow of IEEE.

Andrew K. Chan, PhD, is on the faculty of Texas A&M University and is the coauthor of Wavelets in a Box and Wavelet Toolware. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780863773242
ISBN 10	0863773249
Title	Analogical Reasoning in Children
Author	Usha Goswami
Series	Essays In Developmental Psychology
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Taylor & Francis Ltd
Year published	1993-08-24
Number of pages	168
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable