Short simple paper on why stories matter in science education

1. Sally2how@yahoo.com An article based on an ASE workshop I ran in 2013
Science and Literature: ‘Story Science’
How we can ‘teach’ logical thinking capabilities in EY & Primary settings through
stories
‘as a house is not a pile of bricks, so science is not a pile of disconnected facts’
(Harlen 2010)
Underpinning every lesson taught by a teacher is an implicit or explicit model of how they perceive
the brain to function and learners-learn-best. While there has been an increase in the popularity of
'brain based' models which imply there is scientific evidence base to support the practice, the
reality is more often a neuro-myth, such as we only use 10%of our brain capacity, or individuals
are right or left brain thinkers!
Teachers are well aware that science education is not just the transmission of information and
recognise it is an enriching process where imagining and reasoning is promoted in a language rich
environment. The context for the development of positive attitudes and relevant behaviours,
alongside an emerging understanding of the 'big ideas’ occurs through physical and cognitive
engagement (Harlen 2010). Learning is then both a cognitive and emotional experience and
involves a dialogic relationship between the adult and child (Alexander 2008).
It is now understood that during the process of reading a range of neural systems are engaged
(Geake 2009). The act of reading a story requires decoding and encoding of a visual symbol
systems at the same time as the auditory system has to match the sound to the internal systems. It
is in this way that sense is made. Hearing stories or ‘reading’ picture books also involves these
same complex neural connections as evidenced through functional magnetic resonance images
fMRI.
When considering the use of story books to enhance children’s skills in science, they can be
broadly classified into three: Stories that give an overt context for the science such as; Shirley
Hughes' 'Out and About Through The Year', which is a collection of poems about the Seasons, or
Michael Foreman's 'Dinosaurs And All That Rubbish, which explores issues around recycling and
conservation. These two, along with the 'Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle are just a few of
the favourites to be found in primary schools and overtly link to the science curriculum.
To these examples we can add the specially written series of books which explore science themes
and raise scientific explorations such as those created by Millgate publishing including 'The
Seesaw and Other Science Questions’ and ‘I wonder Why. Questions and Answers about Science
and Technology’ published by Kingfisher. More recently there has been a flurry of graded reading
books to accompany the current emphasis on the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics. These
books try to utilise a range of genre including simple story structure with scientific information such
as, ‘Follow the Clues’ published by Pearson. In this book the reader hunts for clues in nature as
well as reading cues for literal meaning.
The second group of books are those that have the science as ‘possibilities’ and provide a context
for further scientific exploration. Teachers are well used to this approach to science. Popular
examples might include; 'The Rescue Party' by Nick Butterworth. Here a context to explore 'forces'
such as pulleys and levers and friction as in ‘slip and slide’ can be explored from a very basic
approach to highly complex level of investigation. Another example might be ‘Penguin and the
Pinecone’ by Salina Yoo,. In this story an unusual friendship blossoms. This lends itself to a series
of lessons exploring optimal growing conditions for plants or the germination of seeds.
The third group of books is where the story narrative is achieved in words or pictures or both and
the relationship with 'science' is all about the way the reader is intrigued and captivated in order to
'solve' the dramatic incident and understand the problem from an alternative perspective. It is this
engagement that nurtures logical reasoning and hypothesising. It is these skills that are crucial to
STEM subjects and why the relationship between stories and science need a much higher profile
1

2. Sally2how@yahoo.com An article based on an ASE workshop I ran in 2013
in formal education. It is for this reason ‘story time’ should be compulsory weekly event throughout
Primary school not confined to KS1.
The stories in this category are often set out in a familiar structure such as, 'Once upon a time...'
or 'Long, long ago...' These story structures cross cultures and time and have been part of
‘teaching’ for centuries such as the Greek legends, fairy tales and fables. The same principles of
anticipation also apply to other genres such as thriller, love story or horror. It is the predictability of
the structure that assists in the useful brain processing. These common elements stimulate certain
complex neural connections in the brain and help the reader ‘see’ and believe from a different
perspective than their personal reality.
Examples of such stories for young children might include ‘Heckedy Peg’ by Audrey Wood. It is full
of detailed illustrations and short text which builds up suspense, yet enables the reader to identify
the likelihood of different outcomes using narrative seriation. Another example might include 'The
Moons Revenge' by Joan Aiken and Alan Lee. This engaging and magical narrative is achieved
using vivid, yet mysterious pictures that go beyond what is written and promotes logical deduction.
Hence stories can stimulate the imagination and thinking processes beyond the readers’ actual
experiences, which is why they are so important in the process of ‘closing the gap’.
The vivid nature of these books through words and illustrations heighten the emotional response of
the reader. Helps them ‘know’ the characters and the content of the story so they are better able to
identify with the story's perspective. This development of empathy involves the activation of the
mirror neurone system which then ‘mirrors’ the understanding from the story to themselves as if
they had been there. It then becomes an embedded part of their knowledge and understanding.
And aids their understanding and knowledge of experiences they have not actually encountered in
real life.
Cognitive neuroscientists have also found that retelling (or reading) stories and jokes involve the
creation of cerebral interconnectivity and neural systems. As a result of this processing, the punch
line is understood, or the characterisation is taken beyond the literal word and ‘new’ meaning and
understanding is made. This ‘realisation’ of the joke is similar in approach to that of a ‘eureka’
moment when a solution is seen in a scientific or mathematical problems.
The key point here is to for teachers to intentionally put children in someone else's shoes through
the use of stories and in this way they can practice out ideas and feelings as if in a real socially
bound situation. It is then but a short jump to propose that through rich 'storyness', using analogy,
metaphor and other cueing devices, certain story types are able to stimulate a complex neural
system in the brain. By doing this, children’s higher order thinking capabilities are developed.
These include such reasoning patterns as ‘causality’ ‘seriation’ and ‘deductive reasoning’.
Developing these Piagetian reasoning patterns have been found to have long term benefits to
higher order thinking capabilities and have resulted in raised attainment in science, maths and
English test scores through programmes such as Let’s Think ( based on CASE taxonomy)..
This evolving understanding of how the brain works draws on the research evidence from neural-
imaging which has shown that the same neural systems are drawn on for very different cognitive
abilities such as spatial, verbal, language, logic, mathematics and memory (Geak 2009 p 94) and
why it is likely that narrative seriation and logical reasoning can be enhanced by undertaking
related but very different activities such as reading quality story books, not just having stories as
hooks for science lessons.
Bibliography
Adey, P., Robertson. A., Grady. V. (2001) Let’s Think. A Programme for Developing
Thinking in Five and Six Year Olds. nfer Nelson.
Alexander, R.J. (2008) Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk. (4th
edition) Dialogos
2

3. Sally2how@yahoo.com An article based on an ASE workshop I ran in 2013
Geake, .J. G. (2009)The Brain at School. Educational Neuroscience in the Classroom.
McGraw Hill
Harlen, W, (2010) Principles and Big Ideas of Science Education. Association for Science
Education.
Using a story book as a hook for working scientficaly
Below is a list of some KS1 story books used by some of my Warwick University Primary PGCE
trainees last year. They were set the challenge to ‘use a book as a hook’ for the development
of science enquiry / working scientifically (Sc1 in last NC) from a KS1 type book! They designed
and trialled their science sessions in classrooms and then presented their ideas to each other
using ‘Prezi’. This helped them with peer reviewing and giving formative feedback to their peers as
well as seeing the possibilities associated with using KS1 books for KS2 science. They also learnt
how to appreciate the possible use of Prezi by their pupils as a means of presenting their work and
not just use traditional means such as ‘science work books’ : http://prezi.com/prezi-for-education/
Book title (KS1) science enquiry opportunity / working scientifically
The Gruffalo’s Child.
Julia Donaldson & Axel
Scheffer
A fathers warning is ignored! Investigation of light and dark
and making different shadows. Sc4
A Night at Alfie’s. Shirley
Hughes
Design and investigate an umbrella for Alfie as he gets wet
due to burst pipes. Sc3
Can’t Sleep Little Bear?
Martin Waddell
Investigating the ‘best’ light. Understanding ‘best’ is about fit
for purpose. Sc4
Emil and the Bad Tooth.
Astrid Lindgren & Bjorn Berg
Or I Want My Tooth. Tony
Ross
Researching anatomy of teeth. Investigating egg shells in
fizzy drinks, vinegar water and orange juice. Sc3 Sc2
Smelly Bill. Daniel Postage Bill the dog rolls in smelly things raises questions: What are
we capable of smelling? Are we able to distinguish different
kinds of smells? Fair testing using things like banana,
toothpaste coffee cinnamon and soil. Sc2
Penguin and the
Pinecone. Salina Yoo
A friendship blossoms when Penguin plants his pine cone to
keep it safe. Investigation into the best conditions to grow a
seed. Sc2
The Bears Winter House.
John Yeoman Quentin Blake
Could bears house keep him dry? Modelling and
investigation into properties of different materials. Sc3
Jump In. Ian Whybrow Miss Lollipop goes for a drive… and in jump some animals.
Questions are raised and investigated in terms of who
makes the ‘best jumper’. Sc2
The Large Family (the big
race) Jill Murphy
Mrs Smart implies Mrs Large is fat so a race is organised.
Investigating the effects of exercise Sc2
The Blue Balloon. Mick
Inkpen
Making ‘flubber’ and raising questions to explore. Does it
stretch? Bounce? What if? Sc3
Mr Archimedes Bath.
Pamela Allen. Or Aesop
Fable’s The Crow and
the Pitcher
Mr Archimedes wants to know why the water level goes up
when the animals get in. Investigation of floating and sinking
of household items. Measuring the difference in water
height. Comparing weight and size.
The Mellops Strike Oil.
Tomi Ungerer
When water tastes like oil the Mellops want to know more!
Investigations includes freezing oil and water and then
watching what happens over time having videoed it Sc3
Mrs Armitage Queen of
the Road. Quentin Blake
How can Mrs Amitage ensure she travels the furthest?
Which road surface would be best? Sc4
The Very Hungry
Caterpillar. Eric Carle
Having eaten odd choices of food the caterpillar gets tummy
ache. Using red cabbage indicator explore foods that can be
found at McDonalds such as tomato ketchup, milk, salad
cream and such. Related to indigestion. Sc3 Sc2
3

4. Sally2how@yahoo.com An article based on an ASE workshop I ran in 2013
The Way Back Home.
Oliver Jeffers
Having flown his plane into the sky the boy is stuck and
needs a new torch. Investigate which is the best torch to
help him get back home? Make a new torch?
4