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With a plethora of information such as dates, facts and figures present in History textbooks, it is no surprise that most students find History boring. Because students are not engaged, it is difficult for them to learn and internalise the content that is being taught in history classrooms. Thus, it is important to use creative ways of teaching History that would engage the learners, allow them to better process, and remember the information. Storytelling is one strategy that could allow teachers to achieve these objectives. The research aimed to examine the impact of storytelling in the classroom to help students learn and remember content in an engaging way. The research was conducted with a group of secondary level students in a Religious Education (RE) classroom in Mumbai, India.

The findings suggest that storytelling is an effective way of helping students understand and acquire conceptual information. It also helps them empathise with historical characters and engage them emotionally. It was observed that the teachers' passion plays an important role in influencing the way a story is narrated. Due to this immense influence, teachers have to be careful about not presenting one-sided narratives and helping students analyse the stories critically. In addition, it was also found that stories had a profound impact on the listener due to their ability to engage emotionally. This also aids in creating a transformation in the lives of the students and facilitates in bringing a positive change.

Keywords: Cognition, Affective domain, Emotional engagement, Teacher enthusiasm.

Introduction and Rationale

In the fast-pace age of growing technology and multiple modes of interactive and engaging materials within schools and classrooms, some literature suggests that the art of storytelling seems to be lost. This approach has been overshadowed by other ways of teaching. Osborne (2000) voices a concern about the loss of use of storytelling and the gradual underestimation of the power of stories in history. He asserts that curriculum developers in the recent years have focussed around organising the curriculum around issues, concepts and skills where history no longer tells a story but has become a collection of case studies. Storytelling is one of the many powerful tools of teaching and learning and is a beautiful means of teaching religion, values, history, traditions, and customs...

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