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.
Journal Section | Articles |
---|---|
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 15, 2018 |
Published in Issue | Year 2018 Volume: 9 Issue: 1 |