Teaching and Transforming Through Stories: An Exploration of Macro- and Micro-Narratives as Teaching Tools

Authors

Jaclyn R. Devine
Todd Quinn, University of New Mexico - Main CampusFollow
Paulita Aguilar

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Narratives are one of the most powerful teaching tools available, and as Clark and Rossiter (2008) argue, “constructing a coherent narrative is how, in fact, we learn” (p. 66). We investigate the role of narrative in adult learning in library instructional contexts, introducing the concepts of micro-narratives and macro-narratives, and illustrating these ideas using relevant teaching examples. Macro-narratives are stories that are common across many cultures and contain universal themes and lessons. Micro-narratives are stories that are uniquely relevant to the members of a particular group. We argue that both types can be used to create meaningful library learning experiences.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publication Title

The Reference Librarian

Volume

55

Issue

4

First Page

273

Last Page

288

DOI

10.1080/02763877.2014.939537

Keywords

storytelling, information literacy, instruction, androgogy

Recommended Citation

Devine, Jaclyn R.; Todd Quinn; and Paulita Aguilar. "Teaching and Transforming Through Stories: An Exploration of Macro- and Micro-Narratives as Teaching Tools." The Reference Librarian , 4 (2014): 273-288. doi:10.1080/02763877.2014.939537.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License