The Power of Stories

I collect books and words. Why?

"Words are beautiful things. They hold meaning, they reveal meaning, and they give us the power to express meaning. Words are also keys that unlock the world." ~ Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Enchanted Hour

Since ancient times, children have hung on the words of their elders, who told them stories, to teach them and to entertain them. Stories from their communities were a well-spring of happiness and love.

In the centuries before the printing press and modern social media, people learned about their history, their culture, their family, their values and their economy from the stories they were told.

Our brains are hardwired to learn from stories and neuroscience shows that when new information is embedded in stories, that helps to drive the lessons deeper into the memory centres of our brains.

"There is no genius in Silicon Valley who has yet devised a machine half as effective for teaching and nurturing the young mind as a flawed, fallible, physically present human being," again these are the words of Meghan Cox Gurdon.

Stories, also build powerful connections between humans who share them. In a world, where young people are reported to be "the most connected, disconnected generation" reading aloud together gives families a "library" of shared experiences from which to draw. It builds relationships between individuals and ties their hearts together as they spend time together in intimate proximity.

The power of stories also lies in emotional engagement. When we read a story, we get emotionally captivated by the characters and the tension of the plot. This emotional connection strengthens neural pathways in the brain, making it easier to recall the information later. Stories also trigger the release of oxytocin, a neurochemical associated with trust, bonding and empathy, which further reinforce the learning experience.

Where textbooks tend to present information as unemotive, dry facts, stories grab readers' and listeners' attention and help maintain focus and concentration, which enhances learning.

Stories also provide context and structure, making it easier to understand complex or abstract concepts. Great teachers often employ parables for this very purpose of making abstract concepts more concrete.

A well-known example is the parable of the sower in the Bible. This short story told by Jesus, uses the imagery of a sower scattering seeds on different types of ground to represent the responsiveness of different hearts of people who hear the Gospel. Stories and parables help learners visualise and relate lessons to real-world scenarios and this builds deeper understanding.

By experiencing a story, through the eyes of a character, learners experience a kind of simulation learning. They can develop empathy and an appreciation for different perspectives. It builds greater understanding of relationships, greater emotional resilience and self-mastery. This can broaden their understanding of complex issues and develop critical thinking.

"The stories I heard when I was young allowed me to imagine myself in the position of the characters, to consider how I would react if faced with similar challenges, to devise my own responses and them to compare them with what actually took place.
...my father's tales became my foundational texts in everything from morality to history and literature and provided me with a roadmap for everyday life." ~ Chen Guangcheng, a blind human rights activist from communist China.

Reading stories told from different perspectives, such as the two sides of a war or a political situation, like slavery or apartheid, helps modern readers to understand more deeply the rights and sometimes the wrongs on both sides. We see the best and the worst of human nature in the context and framework of a story.

Stories can promote the practical application of knowledge. Learners can relate the lessons of stories to real-life situations and this may change their behaviour or their responses.

A Christmas Carol is one of Charles Dickens’ best-known works and it highlights the effects of miserly behaviour and the meaning of 'scrooge', a word derived from the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge. There are many other stories that we can use to develop financial literacy in our families.

The story of a child being ostracised in her class at school, in The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes, gave us a shared experience to draw from, when one of my children was bullied at tennis lessons.
It empowered him to recognise behaviour, understand it and respond more appropriately than he might otherwise have done, at that young age. The experience was also less upsetting than if he had not had that prior lesson.

Reading aloud dramatically accelerates language acquisition as it exposes us to more complex grammatical structures than we might use in everyday speech. It also brings a wider range of vocabulary into our experience. In this way, reading significantly increases the database of linguistic information in our brains, empowering us to draw from it when we produce our own language, either written or spoken.

Because reading aloud boosts concentration and brain function so significantly and in so many ways, social scientists recognise that reading aloud is one of the most important indicators of a child's lifelong success.

In essence, stories provide a powerful tool for learning because they leverage the brain's natural tendencies towards narrative, emotional engagement, and memory formation. By incorporating stories into learning experiences, as parents and educators, we can create more impactful and memorable learning outcomes. 

"The words and stories we share become part of our family identity." ~ Sarah Mackenzie, The Read-aloud Family