American Indian students who have attended tribal colleges have expressed gratitude, appreciation and pride in their educational and cultural experiences at these institutions. Most of the 37 tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the US and Canada currently offer two-year degree and certificate programs. Many American Indian students who wish…

Everyone has had college instructors who they thought were excellent and those who were not. In pondering what attributes might have made the difference between these groups, the idea of "humor" came to mind, setting the researcher on course to study the research question "What role does humor in the higher education classroom play…

Diversity is valued and promoted in contemporary public discourse, but on the other hand, there is a strong tendency to homogenize differences in society. The tension between diversity and homogeneity is palpable on U.S. college campuses as the number of international students has been ever-increasing. A more nuanced approach is needed to grapple…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher leaders' perceptions of the use of humor in the high school classroom. For the purposes of this qualitative research the case study method was used. The question of what makes teachers successful with their use of humor in the classroom has been divided into four categories: climate,…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine how African American women in corporations develop leadership and construct their leadership style through informal and incidental learning experiences. This study explored relationships between informal adult learning and career mapping processes of leadership for African American women. A…

Important to issues of writing instruction are the ways in which teachers, specifically those who teach in the discipline of language arts and English, understand and see themselves as writers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how secondary English teachers positioned themselves and were positioned by others as writers through…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine urban high school mathematics teachers' perceptions of how they manage their own and their students' emotional intelligence (EI) to facilitate instruction and learning; their reports of how they handle their emotions as urban mathematics teachers; and their reports of how they manage the…

Research literature relating to the use of humor as a teaching method or curricula specifically designed to include humor was reviewed to investigate the effects of humor on student learning in various environments from elementary schools to post-secondary classrooms. In this multi-method study, four instruments and a humor treatment were selected…

In education, one of the vital goals is to improve student success through high-quality teaching. Teachers' pedagogy and knowledge of content coupled with the interactions between the teacher and student is one of the most critical components influencing the academic success of students. The purpose of this study was to examine supportive…

College professors face many pressing challenges: staying current in their disciplines, becoming familiar with new technology, responding to national accountability issues, publishing scholarly research in their fields, and facilitating student learning in their classes. Teaching and learning are complex processes. Humor is a powerful…

During these unprecedented complicated times, there is an equally unprecedented need for an informed citizenry. Many of us watch democracy get played out on the 24-hour news networks. Still others bear witness to it in the social commentaries embedded in the entertainment provided by late night comedians like Jon Stewart. Humor provides a largely…

This qualitative research study examined the "lived experiences" of learning identity during work transitions among three women (ages 35 to 55) who were not previously married. The research question was how do particular mid-life women who engage in a work transition re-construct the meaning of (or make sense of) their identity? Primary research…