Life Lessons Through Storytelling

Storytelling empowers children to engage in discussions; explore ideas about power, respect, community, fairness, equality, and justice; and help frame their understanding of complex ethical issues within a society. In Life Lessons through Storytelling, Donna Eder interviews elementary students and presents their responses to stories from different cultures. Using Aesop's fables and Kenyan and Navajo storytelling traditions as models for classroom use, Eder demonstrates the value of a cross-cultural approach to teaching through storytelling, while providing deep insights into the social psychology of learning.

Donna Eder is Professor of Sociology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is author of School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture.

Regina Holyan is currently a senior staff attorney with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and was Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Indiana University Bloomington.