Metaphors we learn by or dont Róbert Bohát TEDxYouth ISPrague

If picture is worth thousand words, then metaphor is worth thousand pictures, said the writer David Smith. And this is especially true about those metaphors that are not just decorative ornament on the surface of language, but conceptual metaphors. Metaphors that shape as cognitive tools or tools of our mind that shape how and what we think, feel, and even learn. These are metaphors we live by, as Lakoff and Johnson wrote in their famous book. So, if like me you felt that your troubles with metaphor were over when you graduated from high school, please think again. Here's some evidence. In 2015, the British Medical Journal published study by Elena Semino and others that studied the impact of metaphors on the psychosomatic aspects of cancer patients' treatment. You heard correctly. The British Medical Journal wrote about metaphors in treatment. And what they found among other things was that, excuse me, what they found that many though many patients felt encouraged by the war metaphor that some of the doctors used. You're fighter. You're going to win this war against cancer. Many others felt exactly the opposite effect. They were disempowered, demotivated, depressed. But could it really be that this stuff of fiction, this stuff of imagination, metaphor, influences us so much? Well, you might have heard of this successful learner, Albert Einstein, who in an interview in 1929 said the often quoted words that imagination is more important than knowledge. This has many layers and neurobiological basis. Some more evidence. In 1995, study by Pascual Leone and his team published or did some research and published it on piano players. The first group had real practice with their fingers moving for 5 days. The second group only imagined themselves practicing and the third group was control. They did nothing. And as you can see, in 5 days, the brain activation of those who had real practice and those who imagined practicing were practically the same. And what is even more surprising is that those who had imaginary practice actually got better in playing the piano piece they were practicing without moving finger. Not as well as those who actually moved fingers, but significantly better than the rest of the population. And that leads me to key question. If imaginary practice can make you better piano player for real, and if cancer patients fare better with metaphors that empower them, could we use metaphors to help students at school? You see, if these studies are actually directing us in the right direction, then this would mean that the student who feels that school is boring bureaucracy or prison, worse still, is actually going to experience school as this boring bureaucratic rat race or as this prison. No matter how wonderful our pedagogy, no matter how great our equipment, humane approaches, for them at best, it might end up feeling like my prison cell is bit more comfy than yours. We don't want our education to be just another brick in the wall, as the famous song says. And that was one of the reasons why started documenting the cognitive metaphors of learning. And in 15 years here at the International School of Prague, I've collected those authentic, real-life metaphors used in action from teachers and parents and students and pedagogical documents and so on and so forth. And just like the British Medical Journal study, also created corpus, which is searchable electronic database with large quantity of texts, 1 million words in this case, to document and measure how often, how much of the discourse, of the discussions do they actually make up, and so on and so forth. And the most important part of the corpus, of the database, is the learning metaphor survey where students in writing reflect on which metaphors empower them or disempower them and why. And although this is still work in progress, the available data seem to show some interesting patterns. Like, for example, the nine major categories of metaphors. As you can see, many of us see learning as journey. Others, learning is play, like Comenius used to say, schola ludus, learn by playing. Learning is natural process. Quite lot of interesting development there recently, because apart from the traditional metaphors of learning is giving birth, learning is burning, like fire, learning is cross-pollination, there is also this ecological metaphor that emerged recently, 2 years ago, approximately, seeing school as an ecosystem where learning is an ecological interaction between the various parties involved. Quite lot of interesting potential there. And to pause briefly with just two of these categories, learning is journey. One student wrote that this metaphor empowered him because it made him feel that learning is not something negative, but something positive. That you can get road map to help you reach your destination. Now, please note the shift from seeing learning as something imposed on me, something negative, to something positive. It's my journey, my goal, and need help. The school can give me road map to reach that goal. What shift. Just one metaphor. And, as far as learning is transfer, there are two major categories there that have appeared. The one is traditional, age-old, the transfer metaphor of learning is the process of moving knowledge from the heads of the teachers to the heads of the students. But what is new or this it emerged in the data was the divine transfer metaphor, the inspiration, the revelation metaphor. Quite lot of different manifestations. One example, math teacher in the middle of the calculations asks the class, "Who needs an inspiration?" Compare that with "Who is stuck? Who doesn't know how to solve this? Who's not ready to submit the results yet online? Who needs an inspiration?" Quite an inspiring metaphor, if you ask me. And this was just fraction of the qualitative data. There's obviously also the question, which was very interested in, which ones are most frequently the empowering metaphor metaphors? And supposed and hypothesized that learning is playing would be very popular, probably the most frequently empowering metaphor, because after all, who doesn't like playing? However, from the available data, it seems that the research is moving in totally different direction. So far, 32% of the students found the journey metaphor empowering and encouraging. The second one was learning is consuming with 26%. Learning is war and learning is seeing are the third, 16% each. And learning is playing and investment, those have 5% each so far. There's more data coming, but so far the hypothesis is rejected. And the big big idea that's worth sharing, think, is that the metaphor that empowers me may not be the metaphor that empowers you or my students. To borrow biblical metaphor of building house on sand versus building house on rock. No matter how wonderful your building materials, no matter how wonderful your building techniques, your prowess, if you're building on sand, the house will collapse the moment the flood comes. Similarly, no matter how wonderful we are, progressive as pedagogues, as teachers, no matter how best how what how wonderful our equipment, we have the best equipment, the best humane approaches, it will not be so beneficial or not beneficial enough if we are building the learning experience on mismatched, disempowering foundational metaphor that actually disengages the student. This may at least partly explain why sometimes it feels that we seem to do all the right things and yet the student is not succeeding. This might be the under the surface problem or source of problems. And that is why one of the outcomes of my research is the learning metaphor toolkit. This is going to be usage-based, quantitative, data-based collection of actual authentic metaphors of learning for the students to use as communication tool. First of all, to identify that there is more than one way to view learning through metaphors, and they can choose which metaphor empowers them, and then communicate that to their teachers, parents, and others. And the good news is that adjusting the metaphors we live, love, and learn by doesn't require any government subsidies, enormous amounts of money, bureaucratic approvals, or expensive equipment. All you need is just flexible mind that is willing to adjust its thinking, speaking, and also actions, because metaphors are manifested not only in our words, but also in the way we do things. And if we choose to act in such way that reflects the metaphors that empower the students, we may help them very much. And some more good news, if you feel that your school system doesn't understand you or doesn't support you enough, you can still change your own metaphor of learning. So, if traveling makes you tick, make your learning journey of discovery. Or conquer that fortress of knowledge. Or be the detective who solves the mystery of learning. Or the doctor who cures the maladies of education. Whatever metaphor empowers you, please use it. Use it to help you see that learning is not something negative, something imposed on you, something that limits you, threatens you, but if you allow it, your best friend. Yes, good metaphor is worth thousand pictures. Why? Because words matter. Words create worlds. And that's why like the famous Joseph Campbell quote, "If you want to change the world, you have to change the metaphor."