Laughing matters : a serious look at humour

Abstract

Researchers have provided inconclusive evidence regarding the effect of humour in the classroom on learning. This study aims to investigate the effect of the humour-situation on the retention and recall of information and whether variables such as gender and age help and to what extent. A sample of 147 children in a Government primary school was tested to gauge classroom-humour effect on the students. Chapter one presents the problem under investigation and the objectives of the study. Chapter two presents a literature review with an overview of the best known humour theories and a discussion of some major factors including personality, intelligence and creativity. Chapter three provides information about the sample and the variables under investigation. The results of the experiment conducted by the authors, and presented in Chapter four together with the analysis of the data indicated that year 3, 4 and 5 children in the experimental group, who were administered the humour-based lessons showed more retention of the instruction material and scored higher on the test than the control group. Suggestions are then given regarding the use of classroom-humour as an aid to learning. Appendices provide sets of lesson plans, together with some of the resources used and the recall tests which were devised for the study.