The Role of Narrative in Communicating Science

Abstract

International audienceThis theoretical paper attempts to make the case for the use of narrative (i.e., fictional written text) in science education as a way of making science meaningful, relevant and accessible to the public. Grounded in literature pointing to the value of narrative in supporting learning and the need to explore new modes of communicating science, this paper explores the use of narrative in science education. More specifically, in this paper we explore the question: What is narrative and what are its necessary components that may be of value to science education? In answering this question we propose a view of narrative and its necessary components, which permits narrative a role in science education, and, is in fact, the main contribution of this paper. Also, a range of narrative text examples are offered in the paper to make the case for a representation of fictional narrative in science. In order to address questions connected with the use of fictional narrative in science education, a research agenda based on perspectives on narrative implications for learning, is framed

Writing Stories to Enhance Scientific Literacy

“…This outcome is consistent with the growing literature that shows SSI education improves students' interest in science (Sadler, 2009), and that this can be achieved by writing narratives that require students to transform technical information into conversational prose for a lay audience (cf. Avraamidou & Osborne, 2009), as predicted by Fensham (2001) and Wellington and Osborne (2001). Sadler, 2009).…”

“…Moreover, for students who find it difficult to write scientifically or engage with more formal scientific and technical genres, narratives offer opportunities to connect personal experiences with science ideas (Hand et al, 2001;Hodson, 2009). Given such support for the use of narrative in learning science, the more challenging pedagogical question posed by Avraamidou and Osborne (2009) is: how can the conceptual complexity of scientific information be translated into 'everyday' language without minimizing its value?…”

Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences

“…Narratives are often contrasted with other formats of communication, such as expository or argumentative communication (7), or with other types of explanations, such as descriptive, deductive, or statistical (6). However, more generally, narratives are often contrasted with the logical-scientific communication underlying most of the sciences (3,9).…”

“…Indeed, such a movement is underway within the science education literature (7,25). Responding to various calls for reform in science education curriculum, some of which specifically note the potential of narrative formats for learning (26), scholars are exploring how narratives may improve upon the traditional ways science is taught.…”

“…Narratives follow a particular structure that describes the cause-and-effect relationships between events that take place over a particular time period that impact particular characters. Although there exist more nuanced factors that scholars can use to further determine the narrativity of a message (6)(7)(8), this triumvirate of causality, temporality, and character represents a fairly standard definition of narrative communication. Such a definition is independent of content and so narratives can be present within almost any communication activity or media platform.…”