education humor

The Value of Humor in Technology Education Abstract Technology educators are in a unique position to employ humor effectively in their classrooms. It has many benefits, but there are guidelines to avoiding pitfalls. The Value of Humor 1 The Value of Humor in Technology Education By Jim Flowers, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Industry and Technology Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306-0255 (765) 285-2879 jcflowers1@bsu.edu Submitted for consideration as a refereed article solely in The Technology Teacher Revised: June 12, 2000 filename: humorttt02.wpd (WordPerfect 6/7/8 format) The Value of Humor The Value of Humor in Technology Education Technology teachers often find themselves in the position of defining technology education, then defending its place in school curricula. These efforts are especially needed when others trivialize technology education. McLaughlin (1998) notes that technology teachers are poorly portrayed on television: “When did 2 you last see a „shop teacher‟ portrayed in a serious light? More often than not, that „shop teacher‟ is portrayed as an aged dullard who is the foil for a brighter and more articulate student population” (p.14). As technology teachers steel themselves for the battle for recognition, appreciation, and even existence, there may be a tendency to lose sight of the lighter side. Humor can be an invaluable tool in technology education, with benefits to the students and the teacher. Some of these benefits are especiallysuited to the technology education classroom. Stress Reduction, Motivation, and Immediacy One benefit of humor is stress reduction. The medical profession has recently taken advantage of the health benefits from humor-induced stress reduction, but it is important to educators as well. Although technology teachers may think their classes to be relatively low-stress environments, their students may benefit from humor. Rareshide (1993) notes that humor in the classroom can “reduce tension, increase motivation, and aid instruction” (p.2). Hashem (1994) writes that play and humor in the classroom are effective at “relieving tension, facilitating students‟ understanding of materials or content, and encouraging students participation. Besides helping to create a more pleasant classroom atmosphere, play and humor make it easier for students to work cooperatively and learn from each other as well as from the teacher” (Hashem, 1994, p.16). An instructor using humor in a positive way may find that it helps to close the gaps between students, stimulating cooperative work, as well as lessening the gap between the teacher and the students. Crump (1996) asked college students about their reaction to a variety of teacher immediacy behaviors, that is, those “behaviors which reduce physical and psychological distance between interactants and enhance closeness to The Value of Humor one another” (p.3). Of the twelve behaviors noted, the one considered by students to be the most motivating was humor. 3 Creativity Humor can be of special benefit if the students are to engage in creative problem solving. “With the reduction of stress through laughter, there is more time and energy left to learn and create. The instructor and students feel a freedom that encourages divergent thinking and creativity” (Walter, 1990, p.44). Successful humor is often based on some deviation from what is expected. This is precisely the type of behavior that should be encouraged in creative problem solving. Ziv (1983) noted that “the presence of laughter tends to open learners to divergent thinking previously suppressed by the critical, traditional self. New, often unlikely and outrageous ideas surface in this kind of environment as the „fun mood‟ increases creativity” (pp. 73-74). Edwards and Gibboney (1992) cite a study where researchers tested college students‟ problem solving ability. One group watched a film on mathematics, while the other watched one on “broadcast bloopers.” The group that saw the humorous film demonstrated greater success in problem solving. Cultural Contexts Sense of humor, and the way one views their sense of humor, exist within the contexts of one‟s culture. McDowell and Yotsuyanagi (1996) found that a sample of students from a university in Japan rated themselves significantly higher on a measure of sense of humor than did students from a university in the United States. This included “liking of humor, sensitivity to humor, and coping humor” (p.3), or how the “subjects make use of humor to cope with stressful events” p.11). (It should be noted that the former group was enrolled in a psychology class, while the latter group was taken “from several scientific and technical communication classes” (p.7)). Bryant, et al. (1980) found that how students react to a teacher‟s use of humor is often effected by the sex of the teacher. By classifying humor as to whether it fit, or distracted from the learning topic, they The Value of Humor found that, in general, students gave poor ratings on delivery, effectiveness and appeal to female instructors who used distracting humor, whereas male instructors who used distracting humor were seen as more appealing. In general, however, more appeal was assigned to instructors (male or female) who used humor related to the topic. It should be noted that students also rated as appealing instructors who used hostile and sexual humor, which is not to say that such humor ought to be used in the classroom. 4 Using Humor There are a variety of ways humor can be used by teachers and students in a classroom. Unfortunately, some of these can be cruel or detrimental to the social environment of the class. The Guideline for Equity Issues in Technology Education (Boben, 1985) asks technology teachers to “choose language and usage that do not offend people or reinforce bias” (p.12). Many do not realize that “offensiveness is not determined by the intent of the speaker, but by the listener” (Flowers, 1994, p.28). But humor can be used effectively. Rareshide (1993) suggested seven guidelines for the use of humor in the classroom: First, teachers should be aware of and receptive to humor‟s many uses, particularly those cited above. Second, humor should never be used to ridicule or embarrass a student. Third, humor should never be aimless; it should serve a specific purpose, even if it is used spontaneously. Fourth, humor should be made appropriate to the students‟ ability levels.... Fifth, teachers should reorganize the uses of spontaneous as well as planned humor; they should incorporate both into their teaching. Sixth, teachers should laugh at themselves occasionally to show their students that they are „real people.‟ Seventh, they should use sarcasm only if it is of the playful kind... (pp. 26-27). Dickmeyer (1993) made the following suggestions regarding using humor in the classroom: “1. Consider your presentations skills...” (p.11) “2. Consider your audience.” (p.11) “3. Consider your course materials...” (p12) “4. Practice your humor on colleagues or family members.” (p.13) The Value of Humor Humor in Technology Education 5 Technology teachers may wish to experiment with the judicious use of humor in their classrooms and laboratories, using it only where it proves beneficial. Humor that relates to the subject matter may be the easiest to use effectively and could become permanent diversions in a class (using the same joke each time the class is taught.) For example, before discussing surveying in a construction class, I show my students an illustration of surveyors and shovelers in a large field, with the caption, “Early work on the Grand Canyon” (Macaulay, 1987, Plate XI). Before students in a materials class write-up their first experiments, we look at the experiment report titled, “The ability of woodchucks to chuck cellulose fibers” (Abrahams, 1998). In a class where the topic is creative product design, we look at the 16 different visuals of new ideas for bicycle design shown in The Catalog of Fantastic Things, including the “diverging Tandem” and the “StaircaseClimber” bicycles (Carelman, 1971). When discussing dimensions, I quote Steven Wright, “I‟m not afraid of heights; I‟m afraid of widths.” However, teachers who use humor that does not necessarily relate to the topic at hand might still experience the benefits noted earlier. The Internet is one of may fertile sources of humor, however, many jokes, cartoons, and stories are clearly inappropriate for any classroom. Still, a teacher could read and listen to a wide variety of humor, selecting only those appropriate for their class, and possibly rewriting the humor so it is not as likely to offend. While there are many forms of humor other than the joke, the following list of jokes was taken from two sources, a collection of Milton Berle‟s jokes (Berle & Rosen, 1992) and the transcript of jokes from the radio broadcast of Garrison Keillor‟s “A Prairie Home Companion Second Annual Joke Show” (MPR, 2000). Teachers who use these and other jokes may wish to alter some terms so that male-female references are balanced.. In addition, disparaging references to another may be turned toward the joke teller to avoid offending others, changing “He knows his job backwards. That may be the problem!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 448) to “I know my job backwards. That may be my problem!” The Value of Humor Construction. “My house is a split-level. Of course, it didn‟t start out that way!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 322) “A man walked into a hardware store and said that he wanted to see some wallpaper. After the clerk showed him several patterns, the man asked, „Can I put this on myself?‟ The clerk said, „Yes, but it might look better on the wall!‟” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 440) “Termite went in a bar and asked, „Is the bar tender here?‟" (MPR, 2000) 6 Manufacturing, Invention and Innovation. “In Florida they use alligators to make shoes. It‟s amazing what they can get alligators to do.” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 32) “We‟ve just come up with a new anti-anti-anti-anti-missile. It has one drawback – it keeps shooting itself down!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 352) “If necessity is the mother of invention, how come so much unnecessary stuff is invented?” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 352) “I have a friend who invented a brand new type of burglar alarm. Unfortunately, somebody stole it.” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 352) “My brother just invented something that can take a car apart in ten seconds – a locomotive.” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 352) “This will be the first era described by its commercials. Future scientists will spend long hours trying to figure out why we squeezed toilet paper or wore watches underwater or shot pens at targets to prove they could still write afterward. Scientists will wonder why a product that was already perfect in June was new and improved six months later.” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 166) “Never give up. Look at what would have happened to the chemist who only got to Preparation G!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 186) “If corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from?” (MPR, 2000) The Value of Humor 7 Transportation. “An acquaintance, not knowing any better, asks the absentminded professor, „Do you know that in California a man is run over every half hour?‟ The professor shakes his head sadly and says, „Poor fellow!‟” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 3) “About an hour after the flight started, the pilot announced, „Ladies and gentlemen, I‟m afraid we‟ll have to slow down because of the loss of our number-one engine.‟ A few minutes later, the second engine went out and a similar announcement was made. The plane would have to slow down more. Then the third engine went out. A passenger turned to the man next to him and said, „If that last one goes, we‟ll be up here all night.‟” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 29) “Astronauts never get athlete‟s foot. They suffer from missile toe!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 58) “What part of the car causes the most accidents? The nut behind the wheel!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 65) “Scientists have just laid out the flight schedule of our newest space probe. Of course, it starts out the usual way – an hour layover in Atlanta!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 519) “Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? The food is terrific, but there's no atmosphere.” (MPR, 2000) "‟Hello? Is this the fire department?‟ „Yes.‟ „Listen, my house is on fire, you've got to come right away, it's terrible.‟ „O.K., how do we get to your house?‟ „You don't have those big red trucks anymore?‟" (MPR, 2000) Communication. “A super computer-chip company became so successful it started to look for a smaller place!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 276) “„Doctor, there‟s a ringing in my ears.‟ „Don‟t answer it!‟” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 195) The Value of Humor “Why do they put bells on cows? Because their horns don't work.” (MPR, 2000) “How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb? None - that's a hardware problem.” (MPR, 2000) “The best part about computers is that they make very fast accurate mistakes.” (MPR, 2000) 8 Work. “He works eight hours a day and sleeps eight hours a day – the same eight hours!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 365) “My cousin just got a job replacing a machine that found the work too dull!” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 364) “The closest he‟ll come to a brainstorm is a slow drizzle.” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 211) “„This vacuum cleaner will cut your work in half.‟ „Good; I'll take two of them.‟” (MPR, 2000) Other. “Farmer Johnson bought a state-of-the-art chainsaw that was guaranteed to cut down five trees an hour. The next day, Farmer Johnson was back in the store and explained that he‟d only been able to cut down five trees the whole day. The salesman took the saw and pulled the starter cord. The resulting buzz was deafening. The farmer said, „What‟s that noise?‟” (Berle & Rosen, 1992, p. 352) “A man walks into a restaurant and says, „How do you prepare your chickens?‟ The cook says, „Nothing special. We just tell 'em they're gonna die.‟” (MPR, 2000) “A kid was ice fishing, cut his hole in the ice and didn't have much luck. But there was a guy across the way who was hauling in a bounty of fish, just one after another. So the kid went over to the guy and said, „What are you doing to get all of these fish? I'm just a few feet away from you, and I'm not catching anything.‟ The guy answered in a muffled voice, "Ee yer erms orm." And the kid didn't understand. And the guy tried to speak again, „Ee yer erms orm.‟ The kid still couldn't understand him, so the guy said, spitting off The Value of Humor to the side „spffffff .... I said ... keep your worms warm!‟" (MPR, 2000) “Two cows were lying in a field. One of them says to the other, „So, what do you think about this mad cow disease?‟ The other says, „What do I care. I'm a helicopter.‟" (MPR, 2000) 9 “„What is the difference between ignorance, apathy and ambivalence?‟ „I don't know, and I don't care one way or the other.‟” (MPR, 2000) “„Dad, I'm going to a party; would you do my homework for me?‟ „I'm sorry, kid, but it just wouldn't be right.‟ „Well, maybe not; give it a try anyway.‟” (MPR, 2000) Recommendations Many authors agree that there are significant educational benefits to using humor in the classroom. These may include reduced stress, increased motivation, less psychological distance among students and to the teacher, and increased creativity. While teachers should filter humor for offensiveness, it may be employed as a particularly effective tool in a technology education classroom. The Value of Humor References Abrahams, M. (Ed.). (1998). The best of annals of improbable research. NY: W. H. Freeman and Company. Berle, M., & Rosen, M. (Eds.). (1992). Milton Berle‟s private joke file (2nd ed.). NY: Crown Publishers. Boben, D. (1985). Guidelines for equity issues in technology education. Reston, VA: International Technology Education Association. Bryant, J., Comisky, P. W., Crane, J. S., & Zillmann, D. (1980). Relationship between college teachers‟ use of humor in the classroom and students‟ evaluations of their teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 72(4), 511-519. Carelman, J. (1971). Catalog of fantastic things. NY: Ballantine Books. 10 Crump, C. A. (1996). Teacher immediacy: What students consider to be effective teacher behaviors (Research/Technical Report). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 390 099) Dickmeyer, S. G. (1993). Humor as an instructional practice: A longitudinal content analysis of humor use in the classroom. Paper presented at the Eastern Communication Association Annual convention, New Haven, CN, April, 1993. (Research/Technical Report). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 359 587) Edwards, C. M, & Gibboney, E. R. (1992, February). The power of humor in the college classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western States Communication Association (63 rd, Boise, ID, February 21-25, 1992). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 436 535) Flowers, J. (1994). Attention to language: Tips for technology teachers. The Technology Teacher, 53(5), 27-30. Hashem, M. E. (1994). Play and humor in the college classroom: Using play as a teaching technique in interpersonal communication classes. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Oklahoma City, OK, April 7-10, 1994. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service The Value of Humor No. ED 372 442) Macaulay, D. (1978). Great moments in architecture. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 11 McDowell, E. E., & Yotsuyanagi, N. (1996) An exploratory study of communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, and sense of humor between college students from the United States and Japan. (Research/Technical Report No. 143). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 396-349) McLaughlin, C. (1998). A case of mistaken identity. Technology Education Report, 10(3), 12-15. Minnesota Public Radio. (2000). Knee-slappers and side-splitters. (Transcribed from A Prairie Home Companion Second Annual Joke Show, April 5, 1997.) Retrieved June 12, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://phc.mpr.org/activities/19970405_jokeshow/ Rareshide, S. W. (1993). Implications for teachers‟ use of humor in the classroom. (Research/Technical Report). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 359 165) Walter, G. (1990). Laugh, teacher, laugh! Education Digest, 55, 43-44. Ziv, A. (1983). The influence of humorous atmosphere on divergent thinking. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8, 68-75.