Advancing through Analogies

An analogy is a comparison between two things. It points out the similarities or likenesses between things that might be different in all other respects. These exercises not only build thinking skills and make students more flexible and analytical; they also enhance vocabulary and writing skills.

You can easily build your students' critical thinking and vocabulary skills with these fun analogy activities. Teaching students to solve analogies not only develops analogical thinking, it also helps students learn and apply vocabulary skills. For example, "buoyant is to cork as iridescent is to _____ (a. lackluster, b. iridium, c. bubble, d. iris)." Each illustrated page included presents several analogy types along with examples of each type. Review pages give students an opportunity to identify and the solve a variety of types of analogies. The activities in this book will challenge students to think more critically and apply advanced vocabulary.

This book introduces 16 different types of analogies. These include ...

synonyms (calm : serene);
part to whole (ring : jewelry);
place or location (Peru : South America);
cause and effect (fire : smoke);
action to object (cut : scissors);
characteristic (ruby : red).

These challenging activities are perfect for teaching analytical thinking, enhancing vocabulary, and improving writing skills.

Advancing Through Analogies is the most advanced book in a series from Prufrock that introduces analogies to young thinkers. While the activity books in the series for younger students emphasize visual and symbolic analogies, this book for older students emphasizes verbal analogies. For easier analogies, see Thinking Through Analogies, Analogy Roundup, Analogies for the 21st Century, Analogies for Beginners, First Time Analogies, and Attribute Block Thinking Activities - Analogies.

Grades 5–8