ABSTRACT
Analogies produced in twenty-five US eighth-grade mathematics classroom lessons were analyzed according to their frequency and structure. Frequency findings suggest that analogies are a common part of mathematics classroom learning, and a component analysis revealed regular structural patterns in the way these analogies are produced. Teachers tended to organize the analogies by producing the target, source, and mapping steps before students become active participants. Students were most likely to then make inferences, adapt them to the target context, and solve target problems. Student participation was either independent or co-constructed with a teacher or other students. Findings address an important correlate with experimental research on analogical reasoning.
