Model social imagination of fictional characters' perspectives using connection stems, character-focused questions, and letters to characters¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

In Relationally Oriented Reading Instruction, the teacher first models the social imagination of fictional characters' perspectives by using predefined connection stems such as I wonder and this is making me feel. In a second reading, the teacher asks students questions focusing on the exploration of the fictional characters' inner worlds, and children's imaginings are further supported by writing letters to characters. Books are selected for literary quality, particularly language that invites social imagination.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Selection of books with literary quality, e.g., language that invites social imagination

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• young elementary school children

Target Learning Goals¶

• forming vicarious relationships with characters by imagining their thoughts, feelings, and intentions

Affordances¶

• Three Stances Sociomoral Learning Narrative Fiction

Claims¶

• Expressively oriented literary programs improved ToM, emotion understanding, and self-reported insight in children and adolescents [+W]
• Parents' mental state talk during shared book reading predicts children's ToM, unidirectionally [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Social Awareness - Model Empathy and Explain
• Through the Eyes of the People in a Story
• Character Emotion Analysis
• Hot Seat

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Luciano Gasser · Yvonne Dammert · P. Karen Murphy. (2022). How Do Children Socially Learn from Narrative Fiction: Getting the Lesson, Simulating Social Worlds, or Dialogic Inquiry? Educational Psychology Review (2022) 34:1445–1475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09667-4