Among the findings: (1) art activities can be integrated into
classroom content and used to encourage rehearsal - type activities (such as songs) that incorporate relevant
subject matter, (2) incorporating information into story, poem, song, or art form may place the knowledge in context, which can help students remember it, especially if the students are creating art that relates
subject matter to themselves, (3) through artistic activities like writing a story or creating a drawing, students generate information they might otherwise have simply read, which will very likely lead to better long - term retention of that information, (4) physically acting out material, such as in a play, helps learners recall information, (5) speaking words aloud results in better retention than reading words in silence, (6) increasing the amount of effort involved in learning new information (such as being asked to discern meaning from an ambiguous sentence or to interpret a work of art) is positively associated with its retention, (7) emotionally charged content is easier to remember than content
linked to events that are emotionally neutral, and (8) information presented as pictures is retained better than the same information presented as words.
Appendices include NC levels and book bands, expectations of reading behaviours by end of F2, Y1 and Y2,
classroom environment, some ideas from a
subject leader audit and
link to D4LC website with list of lesson plans.
Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's
classrooms are gaining ground in some states by
linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific
subjects should be taught in public schools.