A good laugh can’t be resisted. What caused the laugh sticks to our memory.
It’s easy to remember that experience that made us smile, the thing that makes us laugh so much.
Now, what if you make your students laugh just so they can remember that concept you are teaching? They can tie the laughing incident to the concept you’ve taught, aiding their recall.
How’s this possible? Well, let’s dive in and see.
This article sheds light on how humour in class can aid learners’ learning level and recall.
Are you thinking I’m asking you to become a class jester before your students can learn? Okay, maybe a bit.
Laughter is contagious. If I laugh so much, you’ll laugh as well. If I smile at you chances are, you’ll smile back.
This kind of attitude is needed in the class to put kids in the right mood. Because the truth is, it’s not everyday your students leave home in their best mood. You can help lighten things up and put them in the right atmosphere for learning.
Humour is a way of being amusing and lighting up one’s mood.
Humour activates a chemical in the brain called dopamine. This dopamine stimulates our mood and makes us feel good.
Dopamine, when released in the brain, keeps us motivated, focused and aware of ourselves. It boosts our memory level and how we pay attention, which is what is needed in class.
Dopamine release affects how a child learns.
According to a 2005 study by Ohio University psychology professors, Frank LoSchiavo and Mark Shatz, humour used even in a virtual classroom can relatively increase the attentiveness and participation of learners.
” Humor is a tickling of the mind,” said Charles Darwin.
Our stress hormones like cortisol are reduced to a when we laugh. Amusing events provide a relaxed atmosphere in class.
But how exactly does laughing help children learn?
Research has shown that the attention of students is sustained when something humorous is said and this is what every teacher wants. Right?
A teacher who makes the students laugh regularly in class helps them to create a trusting relationship with them. “They experience pleasure with a sense of openness to discussion and interaction”- (Lovorn, 2008).
When we laugh, endorphins, a neurotransmitter that relieves pain and stress are released. It goes further to stimulate the brain’s frontal lobes thereby increasing attention level.
Therefore, if you want your students to be focused and to pay attention in class, you have to use humour when teaching. Find reasons to make them laugh in the process of learning.
Because you want to make your learners laugh doesn’t mean anything goes.
How to Use Humor in Class
- Humour should complement the content being taught. There must be a way that what you’re joking about relates to what you’re teaching
- It should be quite simple. Don’t go giving stories that will take up learning time and kids start getting bored
- It should go well with the age of learners you’re teaching
- Avoid sarcasm, you don’t want to bring any child down in the process.
If you plan to include jokes in your class you’ll find many ways with which it will benefit your students.
The Benefits of Humor in Class
- Humour creates a feeling of community among students in your class
- It enhances the retention and motivation level of your students
- It makes recall easy. Because they will remember that joke that was tied to the explanation you gave, making it easy to remember
- Humour removes tension and unnecessary subject anxiety in your class
- As a teacher uses humour, it creates a teacher-student interaction and friendship.
In the presence of all these jokes and laughing, you still have to find the right balance. Students don’t want a Mr. Bean–Rowan Atkinson teaching them.
It shouldn’t be overdone that learners start throwing jokes at you during lessons or taking everything you say as a joke. “Teachers don’t need to be comedians” says Professor Shatz, (mentioned earlier) but if humor can make students comprehend what they learn, then it should be included during lessons.
When to Use Humor in Class
You can start up with a light, simple joke to get your students attention when you’re about to start a lesson. But take note of those times when they appear confused and stressed out.
You can observe your students and identify that time when the lesson seems difficult for them to understand. or get into the moment when they are thinking “I wish this class will be over now”.
It’s another best time to make them chuckle and release some tension, then get their attention again.
Some people hold this idea that if you laugh with your students always you will lose their respect and not be able to control them.
I think a teacher with good class management skill won’t find this a problem, because they can strike a balance.
Do I want to sit in class all day with a ‘stone’ faced teacher? No way!
So you should start planning your next lesson to include humour.
No, you don’t want children giggling like jokers in your class?
That won’t help either.
As a teacher, it’s ideal you understand children in your class, and ways to help them learn. Create a family of learners in your class.
In the end, absolute comprehension and recall are what every teacher wants from their students.
Further Information
Humour in the Home and in the Classroom:, The Benefits of Laughing While we Learn.
Michael Lovorn (January 2008)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228665694
How laughing leads to learning.
Zak Stambor (June 2006)
https://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/learning
Learning With Laughter.
Rose Senior ( December 2007)
Education101today 