Teachers' humour (unspecified) shows mixed observed effects on adolescent students' classroom experience, with reported benefits to environment and learning alongside reduced participation and loss of control¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Classroom observations report positive effects of teachers' humour on students' learning, attention and enjoyment, but also negative effects such as reduced participation and a less respectful climate. → Hannah Robinson 2024

Evidence¶

Hannah Robinson 2024¶

Hannah Robinson, Sarah E. Rose, Jade M. Elliott, Romina A. Vivaldi. (2024). Teachers' Humour Use in the Classroom: A Scoping Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09913-x

q2 · i? · review · r3

Narrative synthesis of classroom-observation studies in the review (theme five), reporting observed positive effects on learning processes; the review notes these studies "did not measure actual student learning or improvement in students' academic achievement".

"Studies have reported positive effects of teachers' humour use on students' learning by improving teachers' explanations (Miura & Jones, 2005), students' attention (DiCamillo, 2010; Horng et al., 2005), and critical thinking (Ryoo, 2019)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Affiliative humour is associated with positive classroom climate, enjoyment and willingness to participate among adolescent students
• Aggressive humour has mixed effects on adolescent students' educational experiences, with reported increases in anger, boredom and resistance but some students reporting sarcasm improved rapport
• Observed teacher humour differs from self-reports: sarcasm and mocking accounted for nearly two-thirds of observed teacher humour although teachers and students reported aggressive humour as least common
• High teacher humour use is associated with higher student test scores in observed classroom studies, though humour style and frequency were poorly specified — related
• Course-related humour is positively correlated and course-unrelated humour negatively correlated with students' perceptions of instructional interestingness and intrinsic motivation — related