Bewildering Stories Special Feature
Dr. Jeannette Norden
on Storytelling in Teaching
On June 16, 2011, Dr. Jeannette Norden, of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, gave a plenary address at the 31st annual conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, at the University of Saskatchewan.
The topic was “Promoting the Intellectual and Personal Development of Students in a Way that Embraces Diversity.” For our purposes, a more accurate title might be: “The Role of Stories in Teaching Brain Science.”
And therein lies the interest to our readers and, especially, contributors. We long ago adopted as one of our mottoes a thought from Canadian novelist Tom King: “Stories are what we are and all we have.” While the content of Dr. Norden’s presentation is interesting in its own right, thoughtful attention will reveal that she also illustrates the nature and function of storytelling in teaching. The application to literature as a whole goes without saying.
Dr. Norden’s biographical sketch can be found here.
Dr. Norden’s presentation can be found here. Caution: it runs about 50 minutes. Please allot your time carefully; you will not want to be interrupted.
Don Webb
Managing Editor
Bewildering Stories
