The Validity of Historical Narrative and Its Use in Teaching History

Abstract
There is an effective way to teach high school history, put the content into narrative form. 'Narrative form' can be expressed in various ways: from historically-based literature to in-class creative-writes, from museum visits to book clubs, etc. Many educators across the United States recognize that incorporating 'narrative' into the classroom is conducive to greater student-learning than other methods of history instruction. These conclusions are supported by several recent studies from cognitive scientists who demonstrate that humans are predisposed to understand information in narrative form. Last, I provide evidence from my own teaching experience: analysis of previously taught lessons, along with commentary on general student response to narrative-style learning.