Effective narratives to communicate science to children

Abstract

An effective narrative is potentially capable of enhancing the comprehension and engagement of a text. This thesis reviews the literature from the disciplines of Science Education and Science Communication on how to achieve effective narratives to communicate science to young readers in texts. This review shows that each discipline attributes the ability to produce an effective narrative to differences in writing styles. Science Education champions the idea of ‘coherence’ as the most effective predictor of good comprehension and recall of the text, while Science Communication highlights the ability of ‘storytelling’ to do so. Since these two ideas are not necessarily contradictory, this thesis proposes a strategy that complements both perspectives. Based on this conception, a ten-step guide to aid the editing of science texts for children is suggested; and an example of a children’s book written under this guideline is also included.