Types of Stories
Cases to demonstrate complex issues in the field of bioethics
Case studies are stories used as a teaching tool to demonstrate concepts in real situations. Using case studies as a strategy situates the knowledge and skills to be assimilated in a specific context so that meaning making can occur. By using a case to introduce concepts of statistics allows for a narrative thread to weave the disparate concepts together.
Real life cases were used in the production of videos for Dr. Arthur Caplan’s course, Introduction to Bioethics at NYU. As Dr. Caplan was interviewed about certain topics in bioethics real life cases were weaved into the videos to illustrate complex ethical issues. After watching the video students are prompted to respond to self-reflection questions. For an example please see this video below.
How did Laud Humphreys experiment further demonstrate the impact of “wrongs” as opposed to “harms”?
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A case study to thread various concepts in statistics
A case study strategy was employed in the Wagner Online Resource in Statistics project to introduce concepts in statistics and allow students to assimilate the concepts in context of the case. Statistics are a set of mathematical tools that use data or information to answer questions. To better understand the types of questions using statistics we introduced the case; Understanding the Impact of New York City’s Small Schools of Choice. This case was the thread that strung together all the “pearls” of statistical knowledge into a cohesive narrative.
Small Schools and Large Schools in NYC
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Historical narratives to spark interest in the technical
Historical narratives can be used in the beginning of a lesson to spark interest in a more technical topic.
World of the Wars
Part I
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A historical narrative was used in Dr. Ted Magder’s course, Introduction to Media Studies, to illustrate the impact of Orson Welles’s infamous radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds”. As you watch this example look to see how researchers attempted to understand the public reaction, which at the time seemed unprecedented.
WWII Human Violations & The Nuremburg Code
Historical narratives were used in a few lessons in Dr. Lynn Videka and Dr. James Martin’s course, Research I at NYU, to provide context, value, and meaning about the relationship between social work and research.
The Analog Computer
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Historical narratives were used throughout Dr. Russell Newman’s course, Being Digital, to conjure interest in topics related to computer science. Often a whole lesson focused on the history of a particular topic (e.g., The Evolution of the Modern Computer) followed by another lesson focused on the technical aspects (e.g., The Inner Workings of the Modern Computer).
Fables and parables for teaching concepts in Statistics
Fables are succinct fictional stories that feature animals, inanimate objects, non-humans, or other that are anthropomorphized and that demonstrate some kind lesson. Parables are succinct fictional stories that feature humans exclusively and that demonstrate some kind lesson.
Fables and parables (animations) are currently used in Dr. Elizabeth Bauer, undergraduate course in statistics at NYU. Below are examples of these animations.
The Normal Distribution
Tarsier T Hypothesis Testing
Zero Correlations
Parables for teaching concepts in calculus
Parables are succinct fictional stories that feature humans exclusively and that demonstrate some kind lesson. Parables were used in Dr. Selin Kalaycioglu’s undergraduate course in Calculus I to introduce calculus concepts before moving onto more procedural knowledge.
Links
- Wagner Online Resource
- Wagner Wordpress site on Statistics
- Being Digital Wordpress site
- If you have a story type that you use in your course to share with the NYU community please email: instruction.tech.idea@nyu.edu