Learning by Understanding Analogies.

Abstract

We use analogy when we say something is a Cinderella story and when we learn about resistors by thinking about water pipes. Experts use analogy when they learn Economics, Medicine, and Law. This paper presents a theory of analogy and describes an implemented system that embodies the theory. The specific competence to be understood is that of using analogies to deal with an unfamiliar situation. A teacher may supply the analogy or may not. The analogy may be between situations in a single domain or between situations in very different domains. Frames represent the situations. Relations are expressed in a way that is reminiscent of the case-grammar view of simple sentences. The essential computations tie pairs of frame-described situations together and make knowledge about one become knowledge about the other.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA078123

Entities

People

  • Patrick Winston

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Capacitance
  • Capacitors
  • Classification
  • Computations
  • Doctrine
  • Electric Current
  • Hierarchies
  • Identification
  • Instructors
  • Law
  • Military Research
  • Resistance
  • Variable Pressure
  • Vocabulary
  • Water Flow
  • Water Pipes

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Educational Psychology