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BIG FISH II: THE LOST SCIENCE OF STORY-TELLING IN THE ENGINEERING CLASSROOM

Abstract

The author has used story-telling extensively in the engineering classroom. A consistent request from students in end-of-semester evaluations is to include more stories in subsequent offerings of the course.

At the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) Conference in Chicago, Illinois during June, 2006, the author presented a paper on the lost art of story-telling. The 2006 paper focused on why and when story-telling might be effectively used in the classroom. Examples include illustrating important points, giving coherent meaning to seemingly divergent topics, aiding students in remembering content, or simply breaking up a long lecture.

After the presentation at ASEE 2006, several members of the audience approached the presenter asking if they could acquire the necessary skills to become a good story-teller. This led to an interesting conversation as to whether story-telling is an inherent skill (like being funny) or an acquired skill (like telling a joke). In this paper, the author assumes that good story-telling is an acquired skill. Furthermore, literature related to story-telling methods will be briefly reviewed and the science (that is, the process steps) of good story-telling will be explained. In summary, Big Fish I told why story-telling is important. Big Fish II will discuss how to tell a good story.

Introduction

“Our lives are at once ordinary and mythical.” Natalie Goldberg2

“The role of the storyteller is to awaken the storyteller in others.” Jack Zipes2

“Everybody likes to tell a story. Little children do it effortlessly. Great artists do it with native talent and years of practice. Somewhere in between stand you and I.” Sylvia Ziskind.2

At the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) Conference in Chicago, Illinois during June, 2006, I presented a paper on the lost art of story-telling1. The 2006 paper focused on why and when story-telling might be effectively used in the classroom. Examples include illustrating important points, giving coherent meaning to seemingly divergent topics, aiding students in remembering content, or simply breaking up a long lecture.

After the presentation at ASEE 2006, several audience members approached me asking if they could acquire the necessary skills to become a good story-teller. Oddly enough, I did NOT know the answer to this fairly obvious question.

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Chesney, D. (2007, June), Big Fish Ii: The Lost Science Of Story Telling In The Engineering Classroom Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1741