Storytelling and teaching and learning
Story has many uses in education (Moon, 2006). Defining the use of story within education is complex, with story meaning so many things to different people in education (Ohler, 2008: 15). This complexity is added to further if the different forms of story presentation – written, oral, digital – are taken into account. It is also important to recognise within particular interpretations whether the focus is on the story or on storytelling i.e. the process of creating the story.
Storytelling is seen as a uniquely human experience (McDrury & Alterio, 2003: 31). Stories are used to convey information, or perhaps to motivate colleagues or friends (McDrury & Alterio, 2003), but many stories are used to help us make sense and meaning of our experiences (Abrahamson, 1998; Matthews-DeNatale, 2008; McDrury & Alterio, 2000). Storytelling has long been recognised as a means for storytellers - or learners in an educational context - to give meaning to their own particular experiences, to demonstrate their own understanding of the world (Miley, 2009; Nygren & Blom, 2001: 372). In this respect the sharing of stories is an important element: “For a story to be a story, it must be shared” (Orech, 2008). It is by sharing our stories that we can obtain a deeper insight into their meaning.
Stories can be created as personal narratives, stories to inform or as critical analyses. In whatever context they are used educationally the process of developing a story engages the students in cognitive strategies:
[In the story] construction process judgments and inferences are required at two levels: about discrete items of information and the adequacy of the unfolding story. Selecting, comparing, inferring, arranging and revising are activities which we regard as cognitive strategies. (Robinson & Hawpe, 1986)
Moon (2006: 123), in an attempt to make sense of story in education, specifically in their use in learning journals, proposed a framework in which story consists of:
- Personal reflection: the description or reflection on specific incidents or personal events (critical incidents)
- Known story told in a professional context: sharing stories within a profession or educational context.
- Non-fiction but ‘not personally known’ story: for example case studies, the use of story to help inform or instruct
- Fiction and fantasy
- Storytelling: the process of telling the story, which can be more significant than the story itself.
From this framework it is possible to recognise that within the use of story personal reflection, drawing upon personal experiences and the social dimension of telling stories are of critical importance to their educational value.
Reflection has been identified as an important part of the learning process through educational models such as Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle. This model also emphasises the importance of experience (concrete experience), which through reflection (reflective observation) needs to be related to theory (abstract conceptualisation) and then applied in other situations (active experimentation). This links with research into professional learning which argues that the traditional academic separation between ‘knowing what’ and ‘knowing how’ is false; knowledge being context dependent (Eraut; 1994; Schon, 1983). Eraut (1994) reinforces this by arguing that for an idea to have value it must be used, which reflects the view that for a story to be a story it must be shared.
Schon (1983) and Eraut (1994) recognised that some knowledge is implicit; tacit knowledge. Such knowledge, which is located in practice, can be difficult to share. Schon (1983) has highlighted the importance of experience over knowledge and of the value of reflective practice in accessing this tacit knowledge. Telling stories is one mechanism that can help achieve this. Storytelling has been identified as an important process in helping to develop communities of practice, not to achieve shared knowledge but to help develop a common framework which can lead to a shared interpretation (Brown & Duguid, 2002: 107).
The Kolb cycle highlights that for learning to be apparent, reflection on experience, is a fundamental part of the process. It is though recognised as the most challenging stage of the Kolb cycle (McDrury & Alterio, 2003: 25). Requiring students to share their understanding is required to ensure this has occurred. Oppermann (2008) sees the ‘regurgitation’ of practice, making explicit learning in different forms and contexts to others as a means of evidencing learning.
Storytelling is then an approach that can be used to encourage students to reflect in their own experience and to make this explicit to others; it is a socio-constructivist pedagogy. How learning can be achieved through storytelling is represented in McDrury & Alterio’s (2003) Model of Reflective Learning Through Storytelling. In highlighting reflection it draws upon Moon’s (1999) Map of Learning. Both models have five-stages which are shown in the table below.
Model of Reflective Learning Through Storytelling
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Map of Learning
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1. Story finding
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1. Noticing
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2. Story telling
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2. Making sense
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3. Story expanding
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3. Making meaning
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4. Story processing
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4. Working with meaning
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5. Story reconstructing
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5. Transformative learning
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These models provide useful frameworks for analysis of the use of stories, Moon’s Map of Learning was found to be particularly useful for digital storytelling (Jenkins & Lonsdale, 2008).
Digital storytelling
Benmayor (2008: 198) identifies digital storytelling as a social pedagogy, approaching learning as a collaborative process. The opportunities for collaboration within the digital storytelling process exist at multiple levels.
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