Margit E. McGuire

Using the Storypath Approach to Make Local Government Understandable

Learning about local government seems boring and irrelevant to most young people, particularly to students from high-poverty backgrounds. The authors explore a promising approach for solving this problem, Storypath, which engages students in authentic learning and active citizenship. The Storypath approach is based on a narrative in which students create the setting, become the characters, and then solve the problems presented through the storys plot. The authors describe how a group of students created a small town faced with a proposed shopping mall. Students, in their roles as townspeople—business owners, employees, and elected and appointed officials (mayor, city council members, and planning commission members)—participated in determining what was best for their town.

The Plot Thickens: Supporting Pre-Service Teachers in Authentic Use of Cooperative Learning through the Storypath Instructional Approach.

Abstract Pre-service teachers typically find it challenging to implement cooperative learning authentically in schools given the complexities of classroom environments. Curriculum integration also is demanding because it requires combining research-informed pedagogies and best practices to promote academic and social learning. This article describes how Storypath, a narrative approach to organising the curriculum, assists novice teachers in skilfully implementing cooperative learning and meaningfully integrating it with other best practices. It begins by describing cooperative learning’s central role in Seattle University’s Master in Teaching (MIT) programme, along with elements foundational to cooperative work. It continues by explaining how Storypath scaffolds pre-service teachers’ capacity to successfully facilitate cooperative learning, then provides a specific example focused on environmental sustainability. The example illustrates how Storypath naturally creates positive interdependence among participants, thereby nurturing compelling successful cooperative experiences in creating the story. The article concludes with reflections on impact from MIT graduates.