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Vygotsky argues that all the higher functions, including the formation of concepts,

originate as actual relationships between individuals. More recently Immordinho-
Yang (2011) concurs that the way we learn, as well as the way we live, is not just

biological but also socio-cultural, and she argues that fundamental to that socio-

cultural connection is the ‘emotion we feel about other people and the emotions we
feel about ourselves’.

Constructivism explains learning then as a personal, subjective experience and one that

is contextualised by the environment within which it occurs and the social interaction
through which new knowledge is formed (Gregory, 2016). A belief in the effectiveness

of learning through knowledge construction over rote and didactic approaches has
grown in recent years as many educators have embraced constructivist learning theories

(Mott et al., 1999). In the next section I look at stories and narrative as forms of

constructivism.

2.2.2 Stories and Narrative in Learning

Storytelling has been around since the dawn of human civilisation, and according to

Lawrence & Paige, (2016, p. 64) ‘embraces the very essence of person-to-person
communication, weaving a sense of personal and collective welfare with the community

and the universe as a whole’. As such stories have been used not just to entertain but to
teach (McDonald, 2012), and furthermore to teach people how to better themselves - in

particular ‘by listening to wise experienced elders speak of the challenges of living’

(Lawrence & Paige, 2016, p. 63) - as well as a means of passing on a ‘society's culture,
values, and history’ (Andrews et al., 2009, p. 6).

While stories and narrative have been defined as different - the former bound to a

chronological sequence of events, the latter a broader concept through which a story can
be told or a series of events represented (Abbott, 2002) - with the advance of

constructivism the importance of both in learning and education is of increasing interest.

Eminent psychologist and educator Jerome Bruner (cited in Rao, 2003, p. 455) argues
that ‘stories are the building blocks of human experience’. Similarly, Rossiter (2003), in

her online overview of a narrative orientation to teaching and learning refers to the
premise ‘that narrative is a fundamental structure of human meaning-making’. Rossiter

suggests that the events and happenings that occur during one's life are understood and
even experienced as being part of a narrative or story, and as such that we can

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