Using Structural Alignment to Facilitate Learning of Spatial Concepts in an Informal Setting

We tested whether analogical processes can be harnessed to help children learn in a complex, naturalistic learning situation. Specifically, we asked whether a brief analogical training experience could help children learn a key principle of stable construction— namely, the idea of using a diagonal brace to stabilize a structure. The context for this learning was a free construction activity in the Chicago Children’s Museum, in which children and their families built a model skyscraper together. The results indicate that even a single brief analogical comparison can confer insight, and add to evidence that structural alignment processes underlie analogical comparison.