To teach science (or any complex subject), tell a story

I know some of you have seen this before -- it's a great story in Tyler DeWitt's TED talk, "Hey, science teachers, make it fun!" (full TED talk from beginning here)

Below is a link to the particular story, as he tells it, of the bacteria and the virus -- as a horror story.

Click the image to see just the story itself:

(This also has to be about the best use of PowerPoint I've seen -- using it for what it is really best for -- using images and text to add to and help listeners make sense of a riveting narrative.)

DeWitt also makes a compelling case for teaching versions that are simplified, even at the cost of some precision (the same reason high school students learn the Bohr model first, before the atomic orbital model).

If you want to turn your content into a story, you might start by picking one of the "seven basic plots," a relatively arbitrary but durable set of compelling storylines from myths to movies:

• overcoming the monster
• rags to riches
• the quest
• voyage and return
• comedy
• tragedy
• rebirth

Or you might try a storyline from a more modern genre -- we're all suckers for love, gore, and justice:

• horror
• sitcom
• romantic comedy
• western
• revenge / thriller

The bacteriophage / bacteria relationship as a horror story

Feeling lazy?  Have other demands on your time?  Then challenge your students to find the story in your content -- give them a list of plots / genres, and let them go. 

Think of the kinds of thinking they'll have to do in order to come up with a story -- they will analyze process -- beginning/middle/end, distinguish among the opposing forces or patterns (the conflict -- or hero/villian) -- and ultimately evaluate the parts to determine the most important aspect of the story -- what is it at its heart?

Give them a set of iPads and 15 minutes, and you'll be overflowing with extra resources to teach concepts in new and different ways.  (You could even have students choose among them - to distinguish which stories are most accurate + informative.)