The Place of Humor in the Classroom

Abstract

In this study, we explore the quantity and the quality of humor in the classroom, produced by both teachers and students. Although in the past humor in the classroom was considered inconsistent with teaching, nowadays teachers use humor more often in the classroom. Yet, it is important to study and consider the positive as well as the negative effects of humor. When the use of humor is inappropriate, it may have negative effects. Therefore, since the creation of positive social relationships is fundamental in the educational context, inappropriate humor is unwanted. The data is derived from participant observation in 105 classrooms in Greek primary schools. The present study indicated that some teachers (two out of ten) don’t use humor at all during their teaching. The teachers’ humor was mainly positive, sometimes relevant to the lesson taught and sometimes irrelevant. The teachers in the present study used humor approximately two times during a teaching hour and the frequency of teachers’ humorous instances was on average twice that of the students’. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.