Teaching by analogy: Gravity and electrostatics

Activation of prior knowledge has become an important tool used by educators to help students learn difficult concepts. In many cases, the tool that is used to activate this knowledge and to aid in the connection making that follows is the analogy. Analogies are used to show the similarities between what students already know and a new, typically more rigorous, concept. This study presents the use of gravity as an analogy for electrostatics in a high school physics classroom. Participants in the treatment group received specific instruction in gravitational field concepts that is not traditionally taught in a high school physics course to help prepare them for harder concepts in electrostatics. The results of this study suggest that this instructional method does not affect (either by increasing or decreasing) student learning in electrostatics. It is also shown that there is a correlation between student confidence about their learning and their performance on assessments.