Weaving yarns into good psychological science education

The Teaching and Learning Function of Personal Stories: Correlational and Experimental Evidence

“…Participants’ test scores were no better when an instructor used personal stories to illustrate the concepts compared to participants who were taught the exact same lesson without personal stories. This finding seems contrary to the growing body of work showcasing personal stories as a pedagogical aid for learning (Brakke & Houska, 2015; Draper et al, 2015; Landrum et al, 2019; Miller & Wozniak, 2015) and inconsistent with our findings in Study 1. The lack of a story effect in Study 2, however, might have occurred precisely because it moved beyond much of the correlational and quasi-experimental findings of previous research and was an experiment.…”

“…Further, there is clear evidence that instructors’ use personal stories (e.g., Downs et al, 1988; Grobman, 2015; Houska et al, 2015) and we suggest that they continue to use them as a pedagogical tool. Personal stories seem to enhance students’ perceptions about learning material (Study 1), and evidence of their effectiveness for learning has been found in correlational and classroom studies (e.g., Draper et al, 2015; Miller & Wozniak, 2015), which tend to be more ecologically valid than well-controlled laboratory experiments. Further, instructor’s personal stories seem to be enjoyed by students and create a more positive learning environment (e.g., Study 1); both factors that contribute to a students’ overall academic experience.…”

“…The power of narrative to enhance learning and memory has been known for some time in cognitive psychology (e.g., Graesser et al, 1980), as has the understanding that autobiographical stories are not only remembrances of the personal past but also serve important psychosocial functions in people’s daily lives (e.g., Bluck & Alea, 2002 Pillemer, 1992). There seems to be accumulating evidence that personal stories are also useful and used often as a teaching pedagogy and that their use is successful for student learning (Brakke & Houska, 2015; Landrum et al, 2019; Miller & Wozniak, 2015). However, much of this previous research suffers from the limitation of Study 1: it is correlational or quasi-experimental.…”

“…Creating this environment may be particularly important for students who feel marginalized from higher education (e.g., first generation, underrepresented minority students), as personal stories have the power to cut across diverse experiences (e.g., Keehn, 2015; Miller & Wozniak, 2015) and provide a way to link diverse lived experiences to course content (Syed et al, 2011). Thus, personal stories shared by instructors may serve other social functions identified in the autobiographical memory literature (e.g., forming and maintaining social ties, creating empathic understanding; Alea & Bluck, 2003).…”

“…This work has mostly been anecdotal, quasi-experimental, or correlational. In one study, for example, Miller and Wozniak (2015) broke down exam questions in an experimental social psychology course by whether the content for the question was taught via a story, which included stories about personal experiences, versus in a non-story telling format (e.g., giving definitions). They found that exam questions that were taught via story were correct more often (78.2%) compared to those questions that had been taught in non-story format (68.8%).…”