Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the lover, and the poet
Are of imagination all compact.
Theseus, from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
What magic, if any, does poetry cast upon students? If Theseus is correct, poetry has the power to convey realities about the natural world and human experience that straightforward prose cannot. Does poetry cultivates curiosity? Does it arrest their attention and affections? Do students more deeply apprehend truth because of it? Does learning become more enjoyable? This study explores those questions in the context of a science classroom.
- The Role of Poetry in Cultivating Attentiveness, Curiosity, and Affinity in the Science Classroom
- Dr. Albert Cheng discusses this research on the Classical Learning Test’s Anchored Podcast
- Dr. Albert Cheng presents this research at the 2022 Classical Thistle Conference
- A Pedagogy for Piety: Using Poetry to Move from Science to Natural Philosophy and Worship
- You Should Teach Poetry: Science Demonstrates it
- Assessing the Pedagogical Power of Poetry for Poetic Knowledge by Carrie Eben and Albert Cheng