How Stories Enhance Learning

Start by exploring the reasons for incorporating storytelling into your everyday teaching practices.

Storytelling is one of the oldest and most powerful cultural traditions of our species, providing immeasurable cultural, social, and spiritual value. Stories also have tremendous educational benefits, as they can be used to help learners:

1. Introduce and contextualise concepts;
2. Connect with important messages through emotion;
3. Understand and remember new information;
4. See the world from different perspectives and build empathy;
5. Feel motivated to take action or work towards a particular goal; and
6. Shape their values and identities.

(Malamed, n.d.)

This means that stories can be used as a teaching aid in any subject — even mathematics!

Join the Discussion:

Could you identify any themes in the given video? Which types of lessons could students learn from this story? Leave your ideas in the Comments section below, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

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