Storytelling: Not Just for Kindergarteners

How many of you can look back on your younger years and remember a story that was told to you by your parent, sibling, or religion? Many of those same stories became deeply ingrained in your mind. And often these same stories had lessons to be learned that you might practice today. For instance your religion may have told you the story of Moses and his ten commandments. Decades later you probably still recall that it is wrong to murder. Throughout human history we have used stories to convey information in a meaningful way. But we do not just use stories to convey information but also help us recall that same information years later.

But please do not let me convince you alone. The below link provides you a story about a real life classroom in Houston where teacher Lynne Zalesak use Digital Storytelling in her classroom to more effectively teach her students.

I hope you enjoyed this real life classroom story depicting the use of modern technology and the old art of storytelling.

Now storytelling does not have to be as sophisticated, using high tech programs but can also be as simple as sharing or creating a case study. Business Schools have utilized case studies for years to facilitate deep learning among their graduate students. This same mechanism of learning can also be used within other education fields to convey important information on effective teaching practices. While researching storytelling techniques I came across the topic of Student Centered Learning and one particular school that is having a great deal of success with this teaching approach. In the below story we read about the real world impact of Student Centered Learning at the Impact Academy, located in an urban area with high poverty. In this story we learn the effectiveness of personal connections between teachers and students.

Student Centered Learning at the Impact Academy (Link)

But is storytelling just a new fad or something very effective? Storytelling has been shown to be very effective throughout history and across all age groups. In the research paper An Analysis of The Effectiveness of Storytelling, author Jill Eck asserts that “storytelling offers a highly natural and powerful means to convey, learn, and retain information”.  For those less inclined to read a lengthy research paper I would point you toward a recent book I enjoyed reading Think Like a Freak by popular authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. These two authors have produced numerous popular books that lead us beyond our internal bias by using facts and stories. They attribute some of their success to storytelling. Their hypothesis relies on a few storytelling principles. First that “a story exerts a power beyond the obvious”. Second, that “stories appeal to the narcissist in all of us”. As we hear a story we begin to feel like we are living the story. And finally they say that we tell stories because they capture our attention and are excellent tools for teaching.

So if research and history tell us how effective storytelling is, how can we better integrate this practice into regular teaching?

References

1. Digital Storytelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufVnMDVskLo
2. An Analysis of The Effectiveness of Storytelling with Adult Learners. http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2006/2006eckj.pdf
3. Teaching with Case Studies https://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf
4. Student-Centered Learning: Impact Academy of Arts and Technology https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/SCOPE-Student-Centered-Learning-Impact.pdf
5. Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
6. Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_storytelling