I'm sure you mean well, but you're just saying the same thing the author of the document has already said.
>we risk convincing ourselves that we understand the biology better than we do, or making assumptions regarding how the biology may or may not work.
Okay, so the risk is non-zero. That doesn't tell us anything though. Our scientific progress hasn't halted because of high school students being convinced that they know all there is to know because they scored high on a test of the simplified model of reality.
Every single formal method of instruction uses simplified models to ground students' understanding of these concepts. All exams are graded on students "knowing" something, that's much more complicated in reality.
>Clearly, this kind of description can be used early on, but its important to recognize that these analogies should be viewed as broad-brush stroke descriptors and not functional ones.
Analogies are always about broad brushes. All analogies break down at some level. Because at that point, you would just describe the complex idea, rather than use the analogy.
>we risk convincing ourselves that we understand the biology better than we do, or making assumptions regarding how the biology may or may not work.
Okay, so the risk is non-zero. That doesn't tell us anything though. Our scientific progress hasn't halted because of high school students being convinced that they know all there is to know because they scored high on a test of the simplified model of reality.
Every single formal method of instruction uses simplified models to ground students' understanding of these concepts. All exams are graded on students "knowing" something, that's much more complicated in reality.
>Clearly, this kind of description can be used early on, but its important to recognize that these analogies should be viewed as broad-brush stroke descriptors and not functional ones.
Analogies are always about broad brushes. All analogies break down at some level. Because at that point, you would just describe the complex idea, rather than use the analogy.