On the relation between narrative and representations

Narrative appears to play an important role in understanding, learning and memorization. It is a form of representation, but it can also work as an organizing principle (that is, a way to give structure to representations), or as a set of cognitive processes, (that is, a step of the transformation of external representations into internal ones), or a form of social expression (that is, a way to represent roles and contexts). In this paper we analyze narrative in relation to single representations and to multi-representational learning environments. As concerns single representations, we define the concept of narrativity, that is, the relation between an external representation and the internal ones a narrative is able to raise in the user's mind. As concerns multi-representational LEs, we focus on the concept of macro-narrative, which is the global structure helping the students make sense of their interaction with a LE.. Macro-narrative constitutes a narrative control together with features (such as scripts) which support the process of understanding and answer formulation.