Teaching Takeaway: The Benefits of Elaboration
by Patrick Hussey
As a student, I constantly learned by analogy. For example, as an anthropology student, when I was first learning about the concept of cultural relativism, I understood it (and remembered it!) by thinking about fish:
A fish that’s only ever known one pond thinks its water is just “water” — until it lands in the ocean and realizes its pond was only one version among many. We’re the same with culture: so used to our own “water” that it feels like the only normal. That’s cultural relativism – it just means understanding someone else’s pond before assuming ours is the whole ocean.
Learning by analogy is just one form of elaboration, a collection of strategies highlighted in a Think² Moment in lilyPD’s Civil Discourse in the Classroom by Amelia Bochain.
We define elaboration as “the process by which students connect new information to their prior knowledge or experience,” a requisite for meaningful learning at the core of all education. Learning becomes sticky when students build neural pathways between old learning and new content, so it is essential to push them to draw from their prior knowledge and personal experience.
⭐ What are some concrete ways you might use elaboration strategies to enhance learning in your classroom? Here are a few ideas!
Strategy #1: Ask why and how.
Elaborative interrogation is an intimidating term for a strategy that refers to “asking why and how questions that, when answered, help a person connect new information to previous knowledge” (Malamed, 2021, para. 13).
The act of generating and answering questions requires us to draw on our prior knowledge and understanding. So, when introducing a new concept to students, toss out a few key questions to get their wheels turning. Here are a few questions to get you started:
- Why might this be true?
- How is _____ related to _____? How are they different?
- Why does this make sense?
- Why might this be a result of that?
- How does ___ explain ____?
Strategy #2: Make an Analogy
Analogy Crafting helps students compare “between two topics in terms of relational similarity” (Rudd and Chan, 2023, 293). Just like the fish example that helped me understand cultural relativism, when analogies are used in educational settings, it bridges information that is known to a student and knowledge they have yet to learn.
While commonly-understood analogies are great, this is the moment where your knowledge of pop culture and student slang can really shine. Just remember to keep it simple, appropriate, and fun!
- Matt Kuykendall (2023, 8) writes that he often has students “create analogies after learning a new concept” and recommends using them “as a review activity.” Here is a quick activity to get you and your students started!
- Choose an event like the signing of the declaration of independence
- Have students formulate pop culture examples or even just simpler ones in which they can use to dive deeper into the context of the event.
- Provide students with a moment to create their own analogy and have them focus on commonalities rather than differences.
- Once students have created their own, allow them to share and find ways they can expand upon their analogies.
Warm-Up + Exit Ticket: Explain-an-Analogy
If you want to do it as a group first rather than individually you could ask students to turn and talk about how two unlike things are alike. For example, “turn and talk at your tables: how do you think the signing of the Declaration of Independence was like the 2026 NBA Finals?”
In addition to engaging your class, this will help students start thinking about the factors at play in the signing of the Declaration by connecting it to something they know well from their life outside the classroom.
You could flip this around at the end of class as an exit ticket: “Before you leave today, add to the conversation you had at the beginning of class. Now that you know more about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, how else was it like the 2026 NBA Finals?”
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Elaboration strategies help humans learn – whether in a lecture, through a warm-up activity, or in a class discussion. When I took lilyPD civil discourse class, I kept thinking back to when I was a student engaging with new material. Sometimes I had prior knowledge to draw on, but often I didn’t. Even without prior knowledge, I could still use my critical thinking skills to build a connecting point and formulate an answer.
Take a moment and really think about the strategies you utilize in your classroom…maybe next time try something new, pick an elaboration strategy and try it with your students. How could these contribute to the work you’re already doing? How might these fit in with your classroom routines!
⭐Leave a comment to join the conversation! We’d love to know how these strategies worked for you!
References
Chan, J., & Rudd, D. A. (2023). Supporting Exploration of Far-Domain Analogical Inspirations with Bridging Analogies. Creativity and Cognition, 293–297. https://doi.org/10.1145/3591196.3596829
Kuykendall, M. (2023). The learning science behind analogies. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-analogies-teaching/
Malamed, C. (2021). Elaboration Strategies That Benefit Learning. The ELearning Coach. https://theelearningcoach.com/learning/elaboration-theory/
Further Readings
Jáñez, Á., Parra-Domínguez, J., Gajate Bajo, M., & Guzmán-Ordaz, R. (2025). Effective Use of Elaborative Interrogation to Improve Academic Performance. Reading Psychology, 46(6), 606-622.
Keefer, L. A., & Landau, M. J. (2016). Metaphor and analogy in everyday problem solving. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science, 7(6), 394–405. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1407
Newby, T. J., Ertmer, P. A., & Stepich, D. A. (1995). Instructional Analogies and the Learning of Concepts. Educational Technology Research and Development, 43(1), 5–18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30220108
Slavin, R. E. (1999). Comprehensive approaches to cooperative learning. Theory into practice, 38(2), 74-79.
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Patrick Hussey holds a Master’s Degree in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the College of William & Mary and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Educational Studies from the University of New Hampshire. He has interned at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH, and Strategic Cultural Partnerships with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He also worked as a data specialist for the 1871 Canadian Census Project.
