We remember that Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492; that
Jimmy's father, the fire chief, showed us how to "Stop, Drop and
Roll"; and that crabs shed their shells, a lesson we learned
while soaking in the briny smell of salt water during a fourth-
grade field trip to the aquarium. What happened, then, to all
those vocabulary words, spelling lists and dates of Roman
conquests we knew up, down and inside out the night before a
quiz or test? A week later, it seemed we'd already forgotten
them. Today, brain research is starting to confirm what many
educators have known intuitively for years: Children learn
better and remember more when their studies are mixed with music
and drama, experience, emotion and real-world context. The more
regions of the brain that are involved and the more we engage
our emotions, the more means we have for recalling information.
This research, though still in its infancy, could influence
everything from how teachers deliver lessons in the classroom to
how new school buildings are de