Storytelling is an incredibly powerful teaching tool. Stories can open our hearts, ignite our imaginations, and stimulate our minds. People have utilized stories as a means to share information since the dawn of human history because we remember them, they stir our emotions, and they encourage us to think in new ways. Stories are an effective way to introduce young people to challenging topics because they personalize issues, foster empathy by describing a situation from a unique perspective, and promote critical thinking by providing an opportunity to learn about something or someone from a new viewpoint. In our teaching resource, The Power of Storytelling, we describe three specific ways to use storytelling in humane education programs and provide an example activity that demonstrates each of those storytelling strategies.
