I recently came across a book, published this past April, Storytelling as an Instructional Method: Research Perspectives. The surprise is that is edited by Dee H. Andrews and Thomas D. Hull of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, along with Karen DeMeester of Florida State University.

I’m interested in the book because I’ve used storytelling in teaching and hope to do so again someday.

Here’s how the book’s publisher describes it:

For thousands of years storytelling has been a key means of instruction in cultures around the world. Today stories are told for educational purposes in virtually every domain of human endeavor. This book explores various theoretical and practical aspects of storytelling as an instructional method.

It is divided into sections that examine instructional uses of the four types of storytelling: scenario-based, problem-based, case-based and narrative.

The book’s chapters cover a variety of topics including; theories of storytelling instructional effectiveness, story archetypes, cognition and storytelling, the use of stories in instructional games, and effective instructional strategies that employ stories. In addition, practical applications of storytelling are given for healing combat stress and improving information security.

I found a paper by the same two Air Force authors and a different civilian author (Jennifer Donahue of Boeing), “Storytelling as an Instructional Method: Descriptions and Research Questions,” published in The Interdisciplinary the Journal of Problem-based Learning, volume 3, no. 2 (Fall 2009). Looks like the reader can get a good flavor for the book by reading this paper; the authors’ four types of storytelling (scenario-based, problem-based, case-based, and narrative) are covered.

You can also download an excerpt that includes the book’s first two chapters. Here are the contents of the book:

SECTION 1: ABOUT STORYTELLING AND INSTRUCTION
1. Story Types and the Hero Story by Dee H. Andrews
2. What is So Special about Stories? The Cognitive Basis of Contextually
Rich Learning.by Russell J. Branaghan
3. Storytelling, Archetypes and System Dynamic Modeling by Robert Patterson

SECTION 2: SCENARIO AND STORYTELLING
4. Using Scenarios to Archive Experience and Organize Training by V. Alan Spiker
5. Storytelling with Scenarios and Instructional Games by Conrad G. Bills and Cheryl D. Bills

SECTION 3: PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND STORYTELLING
6. Problem-based Learning and Storytelling: Finding Common Ground as Instructional Strategies by John R. Savery and Carol A. Savery
7. Adapting Narrative Theory to Improve the Implementation of Story in Problem-based Learning by Michael A. Rosen, Stephen M. Fiore, Rudy McDaniel and Eduardo Salas

SECTION 4: NARRATIVE AND CASE-BASED STORYTELLING
8. Once Upon a Time: The Role of Stories in Educational by William R. Watson
9. Enhancing Soldiers’ Resiliency to Combat Stress Injuries Through Stories by Karen DeMeester
10. Deriving and Designing Dynamic Stories to Communicate and Learn about Information Security by Stefanie A. Hillen and Jose J. Gonzalez

SECTION 5: CONCLUSION
11. The Storytelling Instinct: Concluding Thoughts by Thomas D. Hull