Humor in the Classroom: Considerations and Strategies

Shared laughter is a powerful way to reinforce learning, and it helps to make tasks less laborious and threatening. When students and teach ers are questioned about what elements make learning exciting and effective, a of appears high on the list with other democratic, humanistic characteristics (Bryant, Comisky, Crane, and Zillman 1980). The sense of humor is an elusive, seemingly inborn affective trait; its association with learning ap pears more linked with anecdote, myth, and naive optimism than with experi mental findings. Yet, research does exist in which humor has been empirically and descriptively explored in childhood education and psychology literature. Humor as a diagnostic and facilitating strategy for college teaching and learn ing is only now being investigated. Stu dents and teachers with a sense of humor