Teaching/Learning Science Concepts Through Storytelling Coupled With Analogy

Here, in this blog I’ll throw some light on an innovative teaching technology/ method of learning Science concepts(which I’ll also be taking up in next few of my upcoming blogs).

Science learning seems difficult, boring and scary, if done through textbook reading. One of the methods, which I found very interesting and effective during the course of my profound teaching, is learning science concepts through Storytelling coupled with Analogy.

As is a worldwide established fact that stories always are welcomed and listened with great enthusiasm. Stories arouse immense interest in students and so, can be used as an effective tool for teaching-learning process.The concepts learned through this method will remain etched in the minds of students forever.

Another objective of this blog is to touch simple methods of learning difficult scientific terms with ease.

Our Storytelling Tool. Let’s practice it with the science concept –Knowing the types of white blood cells(WBCs).

Let’s begin our story – The title of the story is the “WBC Brigades”. Once there was a country called ‘Human body’. It was a very peaceful country until it was once invaded by some foreign intruders called bacteria. (The foreign intruders can be virus, bacteria, fungi or parasites). The intruders soon captured the entire country ( body). The country‘s peace was disrupted (infection/bacteria spread all through the body). Immediately, the country‘s head (brain) sent a message to the country’s Army

(body’s immune system/ body’s defence mechanism comprising of WBCs) (via lymphoid organs) to fight against the intruders and defuse the situation (get rid of infection/ bacteria). The Country’s Army had 5 Brigades (5 types of WBCs). They are – 1. Eosinophils 2. Basophils 3. Neutrophils. 4. Lymphocytes 5. Monocytes.

Comparative analysis of the 5 Brigades (5 types of WBCs):- Brigade 1(Eosinophils):-Uniform (structure)- granular cytoplasm ; lobed nucleus Duty (function) – to bring about destruction of toxins of protein origin Strength (number)-2 to 3% of TLC. Brigade 2 (Basophils):- Uniform (structure)- cytoplasm contain coarse granules ; lobed nucleus Duty (function)- fight allergens by releasing Histamine Strength (number)- 0 to 4% of TLC Brigade 3 (Neutrophils):-Uniform (structure)- cytoplasm contains fine granules ; many shaped nucleus (polymorphonuclear) Duty (function)- engulf the bacteria and digest Strength (number)- 65 to 70% of TLC Brigade 4 (Lymphocytes):- Uniform (structure)- agranular cytoplasm which is much less ; large spherical nucleus Duty (function)- to produce antibodies Strength (number)- 20 to 30% of TLC Brigade 5 (Monocytes):- Uniform (structure)- agranular cytoplasm which is more ; bean shaped or oval nucleus Duty (function)- motile in nature and engulf the bacteria. Strength (number)- 4 to 8% of TLC

Simple methods to spell & pronounce the difficult Scientific terms/ names correctly:-

1. Break the word and then spell and pronounce Eosinophils = eo- si- no- phils Lymphocytes = lym- pho- cytes

2. Memorising the endings (-phils, -cytes) which are common to the terms/names

Some ideas to get you going with storytelling & analogy technique:-

1. Germination of Seed- using development of an egg into an adult analogy…… 2. Monocot & Dicot seeds- using objects like sun ☀️,moon 🌔(Monocots); sandwich 🥪, burger 🍔 (Dicots) for analogy…… 3. Cycles in nature (water, nitrogen etc)- using cyclic movement in a clock analogy……