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I was struck by the observation that science as story telling might be "harmful to use with high school students." I can understand this but have had a very different experience with middle school students. For them, it seemed to take the "scary" out of science. The use of story telling has made the approach to science more familiar to those students who do not see themselves as "science students." The term gives them a handle on how to approach learning the material that is the generally accepted summary appearing in textbooks and reviewed by the teacher. They feel less intimidated when they can approach the material as they would a novel in English class or a story in history class. We develop the stories together in class. While the self proclaimed "science students" don't need the handle, it is beneficial for them as well.

I have tried the story telling approach with high school seniors also. They seemed to accept the narrative approach and joined in. It did help to improve the essays they write to the questions I pose in tests and for at-home assignments.