Art and science may seem like polar opposites. One involves the creative ideas? and the other cold? hard numbers — or some people believe so. In fact, both require a lot of creativity. People also use both to better understand the world around us. Now? a study finds art also can help students remember better what they have learned in science class.
Mariale Hardiman is an education expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. Back when she was a school headmaster, she had noticed students seemed to remember more of what they had been taught when their lessons had involved art. To test whether and how well art might really improve learning, Hardiman teamed up with other researchers and six local schools.
The researchers created art-focused versions (版本) of traditional science lessons. In a traditional science classroom, students might read aloud from a book. In the art-focused class, they might sing the information instead. Each student in the experiment had both an art-focused class and a traditional one.
Before and after each period of the experiment, students took tests. They took a third one 10 weeks later. This one tested how well they still remembered what they learned two months earlier. The team also looked at each student's performance in a reading test. This let them compare how art and non-art classrooms influenced students with different learning abilities.
Students who read at or above their grade level did just as well in both types of classes. Those who had lower reading abilities got much more of the science if it had been taught in an art-focused class.
Hardiman says some kids actually performed best in the third test months later. And classroom teachers reported “many students continued to sing the songs they learned in an art-focused class after finishing the unit."
Students who started in traditional classes performed better after they moved into an art-focused class. But those who started in an art-focused class did well even when they went back to a traditional class. "Some continued to draw or sing to help them remember information, Hardiman notes." This suggests that the arts may help students use creative ways of learning on their own."
Everyone benefits from the arts, Hardiman agrees. "All educators should learn how to use the arts as an instructional tool to improve learning."