Learning Through Stories - Carol Freeman

A Literature Review

Carol Freeman

Ball State University

EDAC 634 - The Adult as a Learner

September 14, 2014

Introduction

Everyone has a story to tell and it’s these narratives that allow us to make sense of our lives. Not only do we learn from our own narratives but also through stories we hear from others during the normal run of the day. This includes network news stations, radio, and co-workers. Rossiter and Clark organize these narratives into four types which are: cultural, familial, individual, and organizational (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 208).

Cultural is the hardest to recognize because it is part of our daily sociocultural routine. However it cannot be confused with familial which encompasses certain values, beliefs, and family roles. Individual narratives make the stories more personal. Cultural and familial are the premise for organizational narratives. These narratives, when used in adult education, can be “examined, reflected upon, challenged, and even revised” (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 209).

Goals of Narrative Learning

According to M. Carolyn Clark on Narrative Learning: Its Contours and Its Possibilities, we live in a narrative saturated society. An aspect of social narrative is to realize that “there is always an audience (real or imagined, the other or even the self) and that fact shapes the structure and determines the purpose of the narrative”. This form of narrative learning allows the speaker to connect events to a sequence that influences the meaning the learner will gain from it. By knowing ones audience allows the speaker to evaluate, select, and organize the narrative events tailored to the learner.

Stories must be strategic and have functionality and purpose if the listener is going to be able to successfully connect to them. Stories are used to remember the past, argue, persuade, entertain, mislead, to gain perspective of others, and for initiating and maintaining social movements (Clark, M. 2010). Adult learn from hearing stories, telling stories, and recognizing the narratives. Learning this way presumes that our thinking is shaped by sociocultural forces; recognizing our narrative situatedness enables us to identify and critique how that shaping takes place (Clark, M. 2010).

There is also the possibility of using narrative to theorize adult learning by considering transformational learning from a narrative perspective (Clark, M. 2010). Both transformational and narrative learning deal with understanding one’s personal experience through explanation with their common denominator being psychology. “Early theorists were psychologists who viewed human conduct as storied’. Hence when considering a profound change in someone’s life in psychological terms, theorists of transformational learning generally come from that field (Clark, M. 2010).

Forms of Narrative Learning

Narrative learning can come in a number of forms useful for learning. For this paper we will focus on three from the text: “storying” the curriculum, storytelling, and autobiography. Storying is constructing a story in the mind. Here the learner is asked to interpret material in order to write a story which is a learning process in itself. Storytelling comes in multiple forms including fiction. This is also an opportunity for stories to function as substitute for direct experiences. Finally autobiographies, which are narratives of self. Most often people used journals to record these personal stories (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 209).

We tell stories in different context and settings, with different meanings, different outcomes, and different effects. Storying is an essential part of our lives and therefore narrative learning is not always a conscious process. Since stories serves as a communicative process it is often a by-product of ongoing interactions, actions, and conversations (Clark, Rossiter, 2010).

When we are born into stories, whether family stories of folklore, stories of culture, or old wives tales they still help to shape our learning process. Storytelling helps engage the student powerful means of making connections through ideas. Stories whether fictional, real, or case studies tend to draw us in so we can see things from various viewpoints (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 210).

Journal writing is an age old approach to autobiographical methods of narratives. The writer uses journals to record meaningful thoughts and real life experiences. Researches termed “the joy of discovery” as a means of measuring one’s own progress through the journey of human development. Journals can also help manage time, emotions, and act as the “self in the mirror” (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007, p. 212).

Implications

It is possible for narrative to be the basis for an entire curriculum because of the role memory plays in organizing structure in knowledge and new experiences. Constructing stories in the mind has become an essential way of determining meaning. Through storytelling conversations “teachers and students can share their understandings of a topic and bring their mental models of the world into closer alignment” (Mott, Callaway, Zettlemoyer, Lee, & Lester, 1999).

Gehrig (1993) identifies to properties narrative readers experience. He believes that through transportation and performance the adult learning environment can be exploited greatly. First they are transported, meaning they are taken to another place and time in a captivating way. Second they perform the narratives like actors in a play (Mott, Callaway, Zettlemoyer, Lee, & Lester, 1999).

Submerging the learner in a world populated by fascinating characters empowers the learner to participate in co-constructing the narrative, engaging in exploration on the narrative, and reflect on the experiences of the narrative (Mott, Callaway, Zettlemoyer, Lee, & Lester, 1999). Literature and language arts are also valuable in a narrative learning milieu. As humans we are naturally curious of the world around us and a learning environment that does not engage the learner my not be risk being unsuccessful.

Narratives help individuals plan for new perspectives in their life-long journey. They allow individuals to learn about oneself, learn how to relate meaningfully with others, learn how one learns, learn how to make rational and creative decisions about life situations and options, and learn how to access and identify information that offers opportunity to learn (Nelson, N 1997).

Conclusion

Stories and storytelling serve as an important communicative purpose in our lives. Therefore we need to deliberately engage in the narrative in order to successfully make sense of our experiences and learn from them. Narrative learning allows the adult learner to experience sectors of the world, they may never had a chance to, by reliving the encounter through the eyes of the storyteller. The adult learner can virtually bring to life inspirational stories with thought provoking subjects and realistic characters.

	Main ideas in the literature	Application of the main ideas in practice.
Ideal 1	Goals of narrative learning -The social narrative society we live in - Learning from hearing and telling stories - The psychological connection between narrative and transformational learning	- Narrators have to understand that there is always and audience,know your audience - Stories must be strategic and have functionality and purpose if the listener is expected to connect - Both transformational and narrative learning deal with understanding one’s personal experience through explanation with their common denominator being psychology.
Ideal 2	Forms of narrative learning -       “Storying” the curriculum -       Storytelling -       Autobiography.	-       Constructing a story in the mind and the learner is asked to interpret an experience. -       stories function as substitute for direct experiences -       narratives of self
Ideal 3	It is possible for narrative learning to be the primary basis of a learning environment	-       Constructing stories in the mind has become an essential way of determining meaning. -       Readers experience transportation and performance
Ideal 4	Literature and language arts are also valuable in a narrative learning milieu.	-       Submerging the learner in a world populated by fascinating characters empowers the learner to participate in co-constructing the narrative, engaging in exploration on the narrative, and reflect on the experiences of the narrative

References

Clark, M. (2010). Narrative learning: Its contours and its possibilities. New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education, 2010(126), 3-11.

Mott, B. W., Callaway, C. B., Zettlemoyer, L. S., Lee, S. Y., & Lester, J. C. (1999, November). Towards narrative-centered learning environments. In Proceedings of the 1999 AAAI fall symposium on narrative intelligence (pp. 78-82).

Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Clark, M. C., & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New directions for adult and continuing education, 2008(119), 61-70.

Nelson, N. J. C. (1997). Narrative learning. (Order No. 9820324, The Union Institute). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 190-190 p. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304423707?accountid=8483. (304423707).