The Utility of Storytelling Strategies in the Biology Classroom

Abstract

Conveying scientific information with high intrinsic cognitive load to students is a challenge. Often, students do not have the existing schema to incorporate the information in a comprehensive manner. One method that has shown promise is storytelling. Storytelling has been successfully used to convey public health information to non-experts. Therefore, it was of interest to determine whether storytelling could be used in the classroom to present information with high intrinsic load to students in a meaningful manner. This study used a post-test only quasi-experimental study design to explore the utility of storytelling as an instructional strategy in anatomy and physiology classes at a community college. Students in the treatment group received instruction that used storytelling to present examples of application. Both control and experimental groups were assessed through the use of a proximal formative quiz, distal multiple-choice questions, and a novel critical thinking exercise administered after the instruction. Results suggest that storytelling was as effective as the instructional methods delivered to the control group. These findings suggest that storytelling may be used as a means to convey complex scientific information in the classroom.

Ortaöğretimde İşbirlikli Dijital Öykü Uygulamalarına İlişkin Bir Durum Çalışması

“…Farklı ve yaratıcı bir senaryo yazımı noktasında hayal gücünün etkisini de göz ardı etmemek gerekir. Mevcut çalışmada öğrencilerin dijital öykülerini hazırlarken en çok hayal güçlerinden esinlendiklerini belirtmiş olmaları, dijital öykülerin hayal gücünü harekete geçiren yaratıcı bir süreç olması ile ilişkilendirilebilir (Cheng ve Chuang, 2019;Csikar ve Stefaniak, 2018;Ming vd., 2014).…”

Learning Styles of a Story About Sustainability: Their Effect on the Level of Questioning of Students in Primary Education

“…In contrast, storytelling aimed at promoting deliberation tends to have a more balanced and dialogue-oriented tonality (Arnett et al, 2008), for example, by raising questions or presenting opposing viewpoints (Lengauer et al, 2012). The advantage of using stories to assess knowledge lies in the fact that the learner is required to take the information conveyed to him and formulate it in his own words (Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018). In this context, Kromka and Goodboy (2019) emphasized that "good" storytelling performed correctly makes effective use of the narrative by directing students to the relevance of the narrative.…”

“…Scientific storytelling can be used as a means of conveying complex scientific information in the classroom (Csikar & Stefaniak, 2018). A scientific story includes three aspects: (1) the plot's structure: A typical plot structure has six essential components: (i) setting the scene -the introduction or beginning; (ii) a problematic situation -a problem that arises, usually of a scientific nature, or science is involved; (iii) a crisis -something must be done by the main character due to the same problem; (iv) a critical decision -the main character makes a crucial choice; (v) the climax -the story reaches a turning point, when events change rapidly, for better or worse; and (vi) the conclusion -the problematic situation is resolved in either a positive or negative way.…”

Development of Weblog as Learning Resource of Coordination System for Student in Senior High School

“…This handout is a type of storytelling. As one of the digital media for storytelling, its use has been proven in research by Csikar et al (2018) and Donelan (2001) that it can attract students to study longer. By presenting the stories in everyday life, students can understand the material contextually, because there is an emotional closeness between reading material and student experiences.…”