Narrative-based learning: Possible benefits and problems

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of narrative influence on knowledge acquisition in science education. Special characteristics of narratives and of narrative processing are compared to characteristics and processing of traditional expository educational materials. This paper goes beyond the existing literature on processing of media presentations that combine narrative and educational contents. Effects of four distinctive narrative features – dramatization, emotionalization, personalization, and fictionalization – are discussed with regard to their influence on single steps in knowledge acquisition (interest, attention, elaboration, and representation) to explain the superiority of narratives over expository material found in some studies. The need for a model describing the complex relationships between the effects of the single narrative characteristics on knowledge acquisition is proposed.