The popularity of science education is decreasing in certain parts of the world and
negative attitudes toward science are common in learners from various cultures. Learners’
interest in science and the effectiveness of their memory can be enhanced by utilizing
modern concepts of an evolutionary-based approach in psychology. Survival-relevant
information is, according to a number of authors, better retained than survival-irrelevant
information. It is, however, unclear as to which degree the information retention is
influenced by visual signs associated with danger. We experimentally manipulated danger
information (genuine/ false information) and type of information (survivalrelevant/survival-irrelevant)
in a sample of 12-16 year old Slovak children. Information
concerning dangerous animals was retained better than information about non-dangerous
animals and survival-relevant information was retained better than survival-irrelevant
information. The information itself, however, did not enhance memory scores, because
false information about non-dangerous animals (i.e., presented as dangerous) led to lower
scores than false information about dangerous animals (i.e., presented as non-dangerous).
These results suggest that children adaptively retain survival-relevant information, but
information retention is influenced by visual signs of danger. Utilisation of the
evolutionary-based approach in science education is discussed.