Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/the-power-of-stories/5023630/
Children have rich imaginations. We see the beginnings of this in infancy as they explore and discover. If we are astute observers, we see what they focus on and how they problem-solve. As they develop, they are able to express their thoughts and ideas to others in more concrete ways. They narrate their play to others, or sometimes to no one in particular as they act out familiar scenes from home or work to better understand the world around them. But what happens to all of their stories? Most of them are gone just as quickly as they come, making space for more stories or to be relived in another context at another time. They are gone, that is, unless there is someone nearby, observing and recording their stories.
At the Child Educational Center, we are engaged in qualitative research in partnership with Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research centers on interpreting observations. For our purposes, teachers record their observations of children, capturing the essence of an experience, which tells a story. While we get rich data from these written observations for research purposes, there are additional benefits to having children’s stories recorded.
Benefits of Recording Stories
There is so much ...