Applying Analogical Reasoning Techniques for Teaching XML Document Querying Skills in Database Classes

XML has become the most ubiquitous format for exchange of data between applications running on the Internet. Most Web Services provide their information to clients in the form of XML. The ability to process complex XML documents in order to extract relevant information is becoming as important a skill for IS students to master as querying relational databases. But the language for querying XML documents is very different from SQL, which is the query language that IS students typically learn in their database courses. Nevertheless, the database course seems to be the most plausible venue for teaching XML document querying, given the IS 2010 model curriculum. Unfortunately, there are time limitations that may prevent deep coverage of XML in the typical database class. Analogical pedagogy may provide a means to quickly provide significant XML query skills to students who are already familiar with SQL query mechanics. This paper describes a simple but effective way of incorporating XML querying within the broader database course content by making use of analogical reasoning

An Analogy Ontology for Integrating Analogical Processing and First-Principles Reasoning

This paper describes an analogy ontology, a formal representation of some key ideas in analogical processing, that supports the integration of analogical processing with first-principles reasoners. The ontology is based on Gentner's structure-mapping theory, a psychological account of analogy and similarity. The semantics of the ontology are enforced via procedural attachment, using cognitive simulations of structure-mapping to provide analogical processing services. Queries that include analogical operations can be formulated in the same way as standard logical inference, and analogical processing systems in turn can call on the services of first-principles reasoners for creating cases and validating their conjectures