Purpose: According to thesaurus definitions, the absurd translates as "ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous"; "extremely silly; not logical and sensible". As further indicated in the Latin root absurdus, "out of tune, uncouth, inappropriate, ridiculous," humor in absurd registers plays with that which is…

The relevant literature concerning the relationship between humorous intervention and academic performance features conflicting evidence. Authors present evidence that humor is able to directly benefit student academic performance (Ford et al., 2012), while other authors suggest humorous distraction may actually worsen performance (Bieg et al.,…

Positive psychology is a subdomain that addresses the importance of human strengths and personal assets in individuals' well-being. The principles of positive psychology align with the philosophy of rehabilitation counseling by emphasizing individuals' strengths to promote psychosocial adjustment to disability. Considering the intersection between…

Our study explored: (a) the feasibility of prescribing laughter to university students; (b) the efficacy of the prescription on creativity, well-being, affect, and academic efficacy (AE); and (c) the practicality of the Applied Creativity Test (ACT) conceived for this study. A convenience sample of healthy students (n = 70) aged 18-28 (78% female;…

In recent years, there is growing evidence for the efficacy of medical clowning as a para-medical profession. In the present study, we explored the possibility of expanding the work of medical clowns into the special education system, hypothesising that medical clowns can contribute to the development of socio-emotional abilities of children with…

"Operation Comics" is a series of mathematics comic books for 4th-6th grades that was implemented with 142 elementary school students to investigate the effects of an "Operation Comics" books intervention on student mathematics and comic book attitudes using the Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory (Tapia, 1996; Tapia &…

This paper investigates the role of leadership training in developing voice in adult learners. Twenty-one (21) adult education programs were randomly selected for evaluation: 13 programs received an 8-hour leadership training and 12 subsequently completed a leadership project; the remaining eight served as control programs. Qualitative methods…

Authority is one of the most problematic and ambiguous concepts in social and educational theory. Authority is a relation that is based on disparities of knowledge, expertise or experience. Drawing on teaching observations and interviews with undergraduate students and lecturers about their experiences of large-group teaching, I argue that in…

This paper examines a project that developed humorous, irreverent and subversive arts-based interventions into sexism in the academy. Two workshops were run with women currently working in teacher education in Australian universities. The researchers worked with the participants collaboratively and in line with feminist practices and methodologies…

This study examined the total, direct, and indirect effects of humour on burnout among 539 school teachers. As predicted, those with high humour reported significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation but higher levels of personal accomplishment. Self-esteem consistently explained parts of the associations between humour…

Racial humor among students of color presents a sociopolitical dilemma for teachers, requiring rapid calculations of if and how to respond in ways that support an inclusive and equitable classroom climate. This analysis uses two instances of racial humor in an elementary classroom to unpack a White teacher's responses to students of color who were…

Drawing on ethnographic interview data informed by international students in Australia, this study aims to expand the notion of 'linguistic racism' through two main traits -- 'ethnic accent bullying' and 'linguistic stereotyping.' 'Ethnic accent bullying' refers to bullying in the forms of 'laughing' and 'joking' towards ethnically and…

This paper discusses the animated web series "Lifeswap" as an example for "amateur online interculturism" and investigates its potential for intercultural language education. Drawing on Dervin's (2015) discussion on the "amateur interculturist", I suggest that online publications of personal encounters of…

This paper presents findings from a comparative study of peer- and teacher-led Sex and Relationship Education (SRE). One lesson delivered by a peer educator, and one lesson delivered by a teacher was observed with the aim of exploring the communicative process between educators and students within SRE. It is claimed that open communication between…

In "Those Kids, Our Schools," Shayla Reese Griffin examines patterns of racial interaction in a large, integrated high school and makes a powerful case for the frank conversations that educators could and should be having about race in schools. Over three years, Griffin observed students, teachers, and administrators in a…