The Storyline method is a pedagogical strategy for "active learning

Active learning

Active learning is an umbrella term that refers to several models of instruction that focus the responsibility of learning, on learners. Bonwell and Eison popularized this approach to instruction . This "buzz word" of the 1980s became their 1990s report to the Association for the Study of Higher...

," mainly used in primary schools, but it can be adapted for use in adult education as well. It was pioneered by the staff of the Inservice Department of the Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, now University of Strathclyde

University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...

.

History

In 1965, the “Primary Memorandum” demanded that primary schools have a curriculum that integrated different subjects - history, geography, science, technology, health and expressive arts. At that time, teachers had little experience in teaching an integrated study such as this, so strategies had to be developed providing structures on which teachers could build. The attempt to implement the holistic ideas into the Primary Memorandum led to the creation, in 1967, in Jordanhill College of Education, Glasgow, of an Inservice Staff Tutor Team, whose function was to support teachers by working with them on this integrated curriculum. Many teachers, head teachers and advisers in the west of Scotland helped to refine and develop this methodology over a period of more than thirty years. Gradually, a particular methodology emerged that was originally called Topic Work, and is now known more widely, also internationally, as Storyline.

Pioneers of the approach were staff tutors Steve Bell, Sallie Harkness and Fred Rendell. As the Jordanhill tutors travelled abroad, the approach became known in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, in the Netherlands, in Iceland and in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 – in later years in all Scandinavian countries as well as in the United States of America.

In 1986, at a chance meeting of educators in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, it was suggested that an international association should be created, so the European association for Educational Design (EED) was formed and the following year, the first seminar was held at the headquarters of the National Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO) in Enschede, the Netherlands. Since then, there have been meetings in Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands. For the tenth anniversary, an international conference attended by over 300 participants from 22 countries was held in Aalborg, Denmark from 6 to 8 November 2000. Two more international conferences were held in 2003 near Copenhagen and in 2006 in Glasgow. The next international conference will be held in April 2009 in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, USA. At present, the approach is widely used in Scotland, the Scandinavian countries

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, the USA and in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, but also in a number of other countries, such as Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Hongkong, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 and Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

.

Storyline – A Process Approach

The main feature that differentiates this approach from other learning and teaching strategies is that it recognises the value of the existing knowledge of the learner. Thus, through key questioning, the pupils are encouraged to construct their own models of what is being studied, their hypotheses, before testing them with real evidence and research. The key questions are used in a sequence that generally creates a context within the framework of a story. Together, learner and teacher create a scenario through visualisation; the making of collages, three-dimensional models and pictures employing a variety of art and craft techniques. These provide a visual stimulus for the skill-practice planned by the teacher. But even though the teacher is planning a sequence of activities through the designing of key questions, he or she does not know the details of the content, because these are created by the students. So the traditional role of the teacher, who had power because of superior knowledge, is changed. It is no longer her job to pass on information to the students - a body of knowledge to be learned and assimilated. Storyline is rather about process and not merely about content. The teacher’s role is mainly that of a facilitator.

Literature

• Bell, Steve / Harkness, Sallie / White, Graham (ed.): Storyline – Past, Present & Future. Glasgow (Enterprising Careers, University of Srathclyde) 2007.
• Bell, Steve / Harkness, Sallie: Storyline – Promoting Language Across the Curriculum. (UKLA Minibook series) Royston 2006.
• Creswell, Jeff: Creating Worlds, Constructing Meaning: The Scottish Storyline Method. Portsmouth, NH 1997.
• Falkenberg, C./Hakonsson, E. (ed.): Storylinebogen. En handbog for untervisere. Vejle 2002.
• Fifield, Kathy/Creswell, Jeff: Storyline I: An Introduction. Portland, Oregon (Educational Resources Northwest) 1991.
• Letschert, Jos et al.: Topic Work. A Storyline Approach. Enschede (SLO Institut for Curriculum Development) 1992.
• Letschert, Jos et al. (ed.): Beyond Storyline. Features, principles and pedagogical profundity. Enschede (SLO) 2006.
• Rendell, Fred: Topic Study, How and Why? Glasgow (Jordanhill College of Education).

External links

• http://www.storyline-scotland.com
• http://www.storyline.org
• http://www.slo.nl
• http://www.cedgroep.nl
• http://www.verhalendontwerpen.nl
• http://www.storyline.se
• http://www.storyline.si

An American/Australian adaptation can be found at http://fac-staff.seattleu.edu/mmcguire/web/storypath.html