In this paper, an analysis about the advantages and difficulties of the analogies, as a didactic resource in science education, is accomplished. According to the results of the investigation developed in this field during the last years, some criteria to take into account with the purpose of improving their use in the classroom, are also provided. All these contributions are accompanied by concrete examples that help to illustrate the considerations and the didactic implications for educational practice.

Resumen. En este trabajo se propone, en primer lugar, un marco teórico para analizar el papel de las analogías en la construcción de modelos sobre fenómenos científi cos por parte de los alumnos. Tomando como base dicho marco, se fundamenta, en segundo lugar, un diseño didáctico concreto encaminado a facilitar la construcción del modelo cinético-molecular de la materia a través de analogías, en alumnos de educación secundaria obligatoria. Finalmente, se evalúa el diseño didáctico empleado comparando los resultados fi nales alcanzados en pruebas de interpretación y predicción de fenómenos en un grupo experimental y en otro de control. Los resultados obtenidos parecen indicar que las analogías jugaron un papel relevante en la comprensión de los alumnos que fueron enseñados a través de dicho recurso. Éstos aportaron, fi nalmente, modelos explicativos más acordes con el modelo científi co que los alumnos que fueron enseñados según un diseño semejante pero sin analogías, si bien las diferencias encontradas fueron pequeñas. Palabras clave. Analogías, diseño didáctico, evolución cognitiva, modelos mentales, modelo cinético-molecular.Summary. In order to analyze the role of the analogies on the model construction about scientifi c phenomena in the students, a theoretical framework is fi rstly proposed. From this framework, a concrete didactic design is also proposed with regard to facilitating the construction of a kinetic-molecular model of matter through analogies, in students of compulsory secondary education. Finally, the didactic design used is evaluated, comparing the fi nal results in the interpretation and prediction of phenomena between an experimental group and a control one. The post-test results indicate that the analogies used played a relevant role in the learning process of the pupils who were taught through the mentioned resource. They provided, fi nally, explanatory models more in agreement with the scientifi c model than the pupils who were taught according to a similar design but without analogies, although the differences found were small.

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