Myth, and Cognition for Instructional Design

Introduction "Long long ago, when wishing still could lead to something, there lived a king whose daughters all were beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, who has seen so many things, simply marveled every time it shone on her face." (Grimms' Fairy Tales, No.1, The Frog King) From this brief snippet of a fairy tale and its title, we already know and understand much of the complete story through our own cultural and sociological experiences. Drawing upon our exposure to many similar stories, we can expect a number of things; the environment of the story will have supernatural characteristics; we anticipate a sense of need to initiate a transformation; and we look forward to meeti ng a frog who is really a handsome prince. Clearly, the brain has a complex and mysterious set of biological limits and standards. It is also a multifaceted cultural and sociological phenomenon. We argue that the means to improve the connection between computers and humans is to be found in an understanding and application of narrative form, a social, cultural, and cognitive artifact.