Recently have been exploring narrative in learning here. Kris posted a link a few weeks ago.
In the 4/22/2013 issue of the New Yorker there’s an article on a huge movie studio and backlot in China. One paragraph in that article particularly struck me as appropos to our interest in narrative. (page 53 second to last paragraph)
“Several years ago, a new genre emerged on television, in which modern Chinese characters travelled back in time , gaining insights from historical figures. Censors, feeling that such stories questioned the superiority of contemporary life, banned the form in 2011. A government decree said that such shows “casually make up myths have monstrous and weird plots, use absurd tactics, and even promote feudalism, superstition, fatalism and reincarnation”.
Well, we might not be able to promulgate some of our coursework, and prezi etc in China then… but the larger point here is that a supposedly modern and leading economy in today’s world is VERY worried about certain forms of narrative because of their “instructive” and “formative” and “educational” power. And we at PSA are very interested in those qualities of narrative, so perhaps we might take encouragement from the Chinese Commies that in fact narrative can have those powers and that impact on learning.
(there’s a whole lot to this idea of the power of narrative and it’s relationship to learning, but this little anecdote caught my eye.)