The Teaching and Learning Function of Personal Stories: Correlational and Experimental Evidence

The teaching and learning and autobiographical memory literatures both suggest that personal stories can serve a teaching and learning function. Study 1 explored students’ perceptions about whether an instructor’s personal stories to enhance learning were mediated by how much the stories were liked and created a positive learning environment. Study 2 explored whether the learner’s cognitive processing style moderated the teaching and learning function of personal stories. Study 1 was correlational and conducted as an end-of-quarter course survey. Study 2 manipulated whether a pre-recorded lecture included or not an instructor’s personal stories. Students perceived that the instructor’s personal stories helped them to learn course material better via a more positive learning environment (Study 1). This teaching and learning function was not found in the experiment but cognitive style was a moderator (Study 2) Due to the mixed results, the boundaries for when instructor’s personal stories will and will not serve a teaching and learning function needs further exploration. Instructors should share personal stories with students because students like them and it enhances the classroom environment. However, the efficacy of stories for learning needs further exploration and may depend on the learner.