Stories and Story Structure in the ClassroomStories are interesting, easy to comprehend, and easy to remember; and even preschoolers have some appreciation of story structure (Wenner, 2004). Exactly what has led our minds to handle stories in such a privileged way is not well understood, but it has been suggested that understanding the actions and characters in a story calls on the same processes we use in trying to understand the actions and intentions of people in the real world (Bower, 1978). We evolved as a social species, and so we may have special cognitive apparatus to deal with social situations that are co-opted in thinking about stories.
This is HUGE. There will eventually be ten end-of-course exams, each counting for one third of a student's final grade. Some will argue that this means that there will be no time for "21st Century T&L" concerns. Others will argue that those concerns are exactly what are needed to ensure true mastery of the subject. Where do YOU fall in that debate?
