The essence of learning is to pass knowledge in the most efficient way. In this regard, a learning environment during a lesson can be fostered in many ways. One of the strategies that best reaches the core of most learners is the use of stories to enable them understand the concepts of the lesson. Story telling makes learning easier as it offers an avenue for the teacher to present the instruction material in a way that is more familiar and interesting ( National Research Council, 2012 ). Therefore, the overall purpose of using story telling within a lesson is to reach the learning capabilities of the various students in the classroom.
Importance of Story Telling
Stories are important since they motivate learners. Most of the contents of such pieces are amusing, interesting and thrilling ( Srivastava, 2019 ). In this regard they usually psyche up students to achieve the learning goals. The narrations draw the attention of learners and shape their attitudes positively; thus inspiring them to taking part in the learning activities without being persuaded or forced (King, 2014). It is likely that through story telling the students’ attention will be held for long and the learning process becomes interesting and thus more enjoyable.
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Stories make information and knowledge meaningful to the learners. Usually, most people are willing to listen to stories than other forms of instruction ( Srivastava, 2019 ). When learning concepts are disconnected from the learners’ experiences it could be difficult for the students to grasp. When it is restructured and embedded into story like structures or put into story contexts, it becomes easier for the students to reshape the knowledge into meaningful information that they can understand ( National Research Council, 2012 ). This situation makes it easy for the transfer of knowledge among students since they are able to retell the story to their peers.
Information built around a story is easy to remember which fosters learning. Stories create an emotional bond between the learners and the knowledge and concepts being taught. They tend to remember the experiences from the stories more than the bare facts that are relayed through other means ( Daston, Riehle, & Rutkowski, 2012 ). Stories are a way of conveying deep message and information that touch on the students’ hearts through their feelings. When they are told by someone who knows the learners experience, the learners try to identify and see themselves in these stories thus creating a sense of self cognition.
Challenges Experienced by Students during Story Telling
Learners may find it difficult to connect the story to the concept being taught. In as much as the story being told may be related to the concepts, learners might have a problem to connect it to the situation especially when it does not clearly relate with the educational goals and objectives of that lesson ( National Research Council. (2012 ). Also, the teacher may be subjective in telling the story to the extent of derailing it from learning goals. This scenario may come into conflict with the values and beliefs of a majority of the learners; thus upset them ( DeArment, Reed, & Wetzel, 2013 ). Eventually, it would be difficult to achieve the learning goals without a co-operative class.
There is a likelihood that some segment of the classroom may not be at home with the storytelling approach to learning. In this regard, a teacher who frequently uses this method will disadvantage learners whose mode of understanding is not boosted by storytelling ( Gerber, Batalo, & DeArment, 2013 ). Therefore, there is a need for teachers to combine the story telling technique with a myriad of other methods to ensure that everyone is represented. With the time-consuming nature of stories, it is probable that there may not be enough time to use narrations adequately to achieve learning objectives. Most teachers would be forced to make up time to cover the syllabus expectations in time.
Goals and Organizing Concepts
The main goal of using stories for learning is to give elements a human touch and make learning easy. To achieve this target requires planning as the stories will have to be told in a consistent fashion. Therefore, to ensure that the learning technique does not become monotonous or unfruitful, there is need to have an arrangement that will ensure its usage is unique on a daily basis ( Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2013 ). Therefore, storytelling should not be treated casually as it requires a clearly-defined set of knowledge to be able to roll them out successfully. If possible, the school administration and specific departments should draft guidelines to help teachers organize learners well to ensure they benefit immensely form storytelling sessions.
The various organizing techniques include carrying out research, involving various participants, and using different contexts during storytelling. In this regard, the teacher will have to interact with concepts from different geographical, cultural, and political settings as well as prepare learners in advance for the lesson. Preparation entails organizing those learners that will facilitate the storytelling session in advance. For example, the fact that stories have an exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution will help the learners also tell meaningful stories ( Srivastava, 2019 ). Thus in as much as stories seem spontaneous and creatively made, there is a guideline that they should follow to ensure the prior-mentioned results are achieved.
Aligning Activity with Principles
Stories build on learner’s prior knowledge by giving the concepts a familiar tone. For example, when teaching about types of songs, the teacher can use a previous story regarding a dirge occasion and incorporate a ballad scene in the current lesson. In this regard, the students will realize that dirges are used for sad occasions especially death of someone while ballads are used when two people are in a romantic relationship. Also, a series of stories can have certain moral and legal elements which makes the learners to understand that certain things are acceptable while others are not.
Stories also develop deep understanding of issues and foster metacognition. The fact that a story has a linear structure implies that whatever concept is being relayed should have an introduction, middle, and a conclusion. In this light, the learner will get a glimpse of how things usually unfold within the contemporary society with regards to interrelationships between various phenomena ( Gerber, Batalo., & DeArment, 2013 ). Consequently, such learners will likely understand how the concepts they learn in class have a direct application to the societies around them. The mention of relationships between characters, events, and settings will help build the learners’ metacognition.
Storytelling as a technique paves room for formative assessment and revision of weak areas. The learners are likely to respond to questions that come after a story telling session as the concepts will be presented in a more interesting and familiar terms. The situation will give room for reflection and discussion which enable learners to have and all-around perception of the various concepts the story highlights (King, 2014). In the process, the teacher will be able to gauge which of the learners have difficulty in connecting certain contents of the story with certain segment of the learning of objectives. In this manner, it will be much easier to identify areas that need stressing.
The Connection between Learning Environment and the “How people Learn Framework”.
The learning environment created by stories is consistent with the How People Learn Framework. The technique facilitates self-monitoring, fosters a connection with prior knowledge, and incorporate the use of factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks (King, 2014). In this regard, stories are learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered and community-centered. The latter bit comes from the fact that individuals listening to the story will get a glimpse of the various situations manifest in their immediate environment. More so, as the story progresses, the teacher can pose various assessment questions to determine the learner’s experiences, knowledge, and skills in a certain area.
Existing Knowledge in the Learning Sciences and Nurse Education
These fields place great emphasis in breaking down knowledge to manageable chunks and presenting information in different formats to suit the different learning capabilities of individuals ( Daston, Riehle, & Rutkowski, 2012 ). For instance, the nurse education field has found out that stories can be very effective in mental therapy. Therefore, the same concept can be applied in the classroom setting since stories can break down complex concepts into a simple three stage plot. In the same vein, the analogy used in stories helps to form a more understandable connection between concepts. Also, stories can be true, fictitious, imaginative or personal experiences which opens the window for the approach to be used for virtually any concept under discussion.
Conclusion
A class unit filled with elements of story telling achieves many of the principles of learning. A story can condense lengthy and complex concepts that are easy to decipher. Learning through stories can be instituted by learners and teachers as well. In this case, it can be a great way of breaking the monotony in learning. Therefore, this approach of instruction will ensure that there is sufficient assessment, knowledge sharing, and community awareness which are essential elements in fostering student learning.
References
Daston, M., Riehle, J., & Rutkowski, S. (2012). High school transition that works. Baltimore, MA: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
DeArment, S., Reed, E., & Wetzel, A. (2013). Promoting adaptive expertise: a conceptual framework for special educator preparation. Teacher Education and Special Education, 36 (3), 217-230.
Gerber, P., Batalo, C., & DeArment, S. (2013). An analysis of state data collection protocols for measuring postschool outcomes for students with disabilities. Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals . 36 (1).
King, A. R. (2014, January 29). Teaching the Teachers: Use of the HPL Framework, Adaptive Expertise, and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved April 10, 2019, from https://avteducationtalk.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/teaching-the-teachers-use-of-the-hpl-framework-adaptive-expertise-and-universal-design-for-learning/
Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., &Gordon, D. (2013). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST.
National Research Council. (2012). Education for work and life: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21 st century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Srivastava, A. (2019). Effect of Story Telling On Learning Single Digit Addition among Primary Level Students with Mild Intellectual Disability. Journal of Disability Management and Special Education , 2 (1), 17.
