Hva lærer barn når de forteller? En studie av barns læringsprosesser gjennom narrativ praksis.

The objective of this study is to examine what children learn about the perspective of other individuals when telling a story.  Questions are asked about how children cooperate with others when telling a story, how they express that they are aware of others’ perspectives, as well as how this interaction demonstrates how children show that they are aware of the feelings of other individuals.

The study shows that in the explorative stories it became clear that the children understood that other people have a different understanding of the world than they do.  In the explorative stories the children were active players in their own learning process. Furthermore, the study shows that if children’s stories include a context, this indicates that they understand that other people may perceive things differently, and therefore it is necessary to include a background and context when telling a story. The study concludes that a child’s narrative expression of understanding others depends on the context and who the child is telling the story to, as well as what it is about.

Data consists of video observations of children between the ages of three and five. Six children were identified as focus children, and these children told 116 stories spontaneously in a dialogue situation with one or more adults.

Gjems, L. (2006). Hva lærer barn når de forteller? En studie av barns læringsprosesser gjennom narrativ praksis. Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, Det Utdanningsvitenskapelige fakultet.