Welcome to the continuation of the series Pillars of Active Learning.

In addition to my story below about how I goofed up, I also set this to be delivered at 9 PM, so it is arriving a day late ... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Seems right for an email with this subject line!

In the first weeks, we discussed the benefits and challenges of active learning.

You can review the previous sections here:

1. ​Re-imagining the lecture as the final frontier​
2. ​Challenges of active learning​

This week, we will build the first pillar - Use Story.

Why Stories? 📖

If you were going to give a TED talk, you would take your presentation through an intense coaching period. You would limit your speaking time to under 18 minutes. There would be minimal slides with only a few visuals. And you would tell your first-hand story.

The average TED talk timeline is only 25% facts and 65% first-hand storytelling. The storytelling, carefully paired with information, makes it memorable and impactful.

As educators, we are expert nurses. We have practiced in clinic, hospital, and community settings, worked every shift, cared for various conditions, and collaborated with other brilliant interdisciplinary team members. But this expansive knowledge is not enough - we need to be able to communicate it clearly.

And using a story is an excellent way to do that. Stories are estimated to be two to ten times more memorable than facts alone. So, let’s explore how stories can be a powerful teaching tool.

Neuroscience of Stories 🧠

I am going to tell you a story from my practice that I often shared with students to illustrate a concept:

What do you notice or feel when I tell that story? What is going on in your brain here is interesting. When we learn through stories, we are not just processing the words we hear or read. We can have a vivid, imagined experience in our minds. It is almost a type of simulation where we see exactly what is being described, feel the feelings that are evoked, and live out the situation in the fictional world that our mind develops. It is as if our brains cannot tell the difference between a story and an actual experience. And what an amazing way to teach!

How to Craft a Story 🪄

Part of what makes stories challenging to use as a teaching tool is we may need help understanding how to craft a story. But there is a formula, a standard framework that you can use to build a story that will deliver a lesson. Writers use it in almost every movie or book; once you see it, it is hard to unsee.

1. A character starts in an ordinary world
2. There is an incident - something exciting or unexpected happens
3. The mentor arrives - someone drags the character out of the ordinary and into an adventure
4. New additions - the character meets allies and enemies and faces preliminary tests and challenges
5. Midpoint - a crucial event that changes how the character sees the world
6. Crisis - the lowest point, there is no way out, seems impossible, enemies are closing in
7. Resolution - the character is changed, faces the enemy once more, and is successful
8. Return - the character returns to the ordinary world, but they are changed, and everything feels different

This is the formula for a successful and captivating story. Even in my story above, there is a loose connection to this framework.

How could you implement this into your work as a nurse educator?

• Weave this framework into a case study that you write
• Structure a simulation following this formula
• Ask students to write a case study following this plan
• As a patient safety reflection (as described by Karlowicz)
• As a discussion related to mental health (as described by Pringle and Smith)

Using Story with Caution ✋

Stories are such a powerful tool for teaching that they come with a few cautions. Edwards (2014) found that listeners may hear a powerful story and take it as fact without question. With this understanding, it is vital to ensure the story you use does not present fiction as fact, support prejudice, justify biased perspectives toward groups of people, or dominate, silence, or demonize any patient or group (Harman, 2020). Maintaining confidentiality when using stories in your teaching practice is also essential.

Do you have a story? 📚

Effectively presented stories have the potential to impact student learning positively and can be an essential teaching tool and help share lived experiences and important lessons.

Do you use a particular story to illustrate a point in class or clinical? I would love to hear your example. You can reply to this email and let me know. I reply to every email.

Next week, we will review the second pillar - Including Physical Objects. See you then!

Did you know? This email series is developed from an active learning presentation I created that includes a unique card deck. If you think this would be useful for your next conference, click below! ​ Learn More

​ 🫂 Connect in the Facebook community ​Say hi →​ ✨ Active Learning Products ​Check out the decks →​ 💡 Practical Teaching Ideas ​Read the articles →​

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References

Edwards, S.L. (2014). Finding a place for story: looking beyond reflective practice. International Practice Development Journal. 4, 2.

Harman, S. (2020). The danger of stories in global health. The Lancet. 395, 10226, 776-777.

Karlowicz, K. (2023). Storytelling: An authentic approach to patient safety in nursing education.. Nurse Educator, 48 (5), E158-E162.

Martinez-Conde, S., Alexander, R. G., Blum, D., Britton, N., Lipska, B. K., Quirk, G. J., Swiss, J. I., Willems, R. M., & Macknik, S. L. (2019). The Storytelling Brain: How Neuroscience Stories Help Bridge the Gap between Research and Society. The Journal of Neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 39(42), 8285–8290.

Pringle, A., Smith, M. (2022). Using lived experience stories and anecdotes to enhance mental health nurse education. Mental Health Practice.

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