Download Metaphorical Thinking Exemplars

Metaphorical Thinking Exemplars
Beginning:
Developing:
Mastering: Excelling:
________
_________
_________ ________
The following metaphors were created by students who were studying the lithosphere. Take a few minutes to read each one. Then,
rank them in order from beginning to excelling using our team’s Metaphorical Thinking rubric.
Exemplar #1: Double Bouncy Ball
Strengths of Metaphor:
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The two balls are a good example of how elements combine because the blue ball looks like the earth and the earth’s crust
is mostly oxygen and the orange ball looks like the sun which has hydrogen and those two elements combined are water.
Since those two elements make water, it relates to mechanical weathering. Water is one of the things that breaks down
rocks.
Mechanical weathering is part of the rock cycle and the object also compares to the rock cycle because
Since the blue ball is like the earth, that makes it easier to find ways to compare the rock cycle and the layers to the balls.
Weaknesses of the Metaphor:
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The balls aren’t exactly like the sun and the earth.
The weaknesses are that the earth isn’t flat and the sun isn’t what we were talking about in class.
Exemplar #2 : Pie Cutter
Strengths of Metaphor:
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When you slice a cake or a pie, that would be an example of a divergent boundary because the cake is spreading apart.
The cake would represent the Earth and its layers. When you cut into a cake (like a divergent boundary) it shows how there
are cracks in the Earth’s crust because of the crust spreading.
Weaknesses of the Metaphor:
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The first strength I showed has a weakness because at a divergent boundary, magma forces its way to the surface to make
a crack in the earth’s crust. The pie slicer is forcing its way down to create a crack in the pie.
Also, when you cut the cake, nothing rises up or cools to form new “rock.” Nothing pushes the old “rock” out of the way,
either.
When you use a pie slicer, you are chopping off the whole piece of cake – so it is like you are cutting off the mantle and the
inner and outer core. That’s not what happens at a divergent boundary.
Exemplar #3: Popcorn Box
Strengths of Metaphor:
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Popcorn starts as one form and changes to another, just like metamorphic rock. Popcorn starts as a kernel and changes to
popcorn.
The microwave that you pop corn in represents tectonic plate boundaries because popcorn changes from kernel to popcorn
and many metamorphic rocks change at plate boundaries.
The heat in the microwave is what changes the kernel’s form just like the heat at a tectonic plate boundary changes the
form of metamorphic rocks.
Metamorphic rocks change form, but they stay with the exact same elements. The “ingredients” of the rock don’t change.
Kernels change into popcorn with the exact same ingredients/elements.
Even under extreme heat and pressure, metamorphic rocks never melt. Neither does the popcorn.
Weaknesses of the Metaphor:
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Popcorn can only change from a kernel to a piece of popcorn every time. It is always the same and it is always predictable.
Metamorphic rocks aren’t as predictable because they can weather into sediments and erosion or melt into magma. There
are different rocks that metamorphic rocks can form into, but you never know which ones they will change into.
The microwave changes the popcorn with heat, but there is nothing to represent pressure. In a tectonic plate boundary,
there must be pressure for metamorphic rocks to change form.
Most popcorn has oil added to it to help it to change from a kernel into corn. Metamorphic rocks don’t have any outside
“ingredients” to help them change form.
Exemplar #4: Double Bouncy Ball
Strengths of Metaphor:
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The bouncy ball is the earth going around the sun. Hydrogen is red because the sun is mostly made of hydrogen. Oxygen is
blue because the earth is mostly made of oxygen.
Some of the strengths of my metaphors are that the balls are round like the earth and the sun.
Weaknesses of the Metaphor:
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The weakness of my metaphor is that the sun and the earth do not bounce.
The sun is not red.