Background: Pedagogical approaches to learning about LGBTQI+ themes and experiences remain a largely understudied topic in teacher education. This is partly due to anxieties around exploring these themes in nuanced and sensitive ways, with many teacher educators feeling ill-equipped to navigate the complexities of exploring so-called…

Student interaction with teachers is crucial to developing caring relationships. Research suggests that when teachers work to build nurturing learning environments, there are substantial benefits for students, especially those from historically marginalized groups. Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, Anne Garrison Wilhelm, and Jonee Wilson share examples from…

The purpose of this article is to show that health and physical education (HPE) teachers who implement humor in the classroom intentionally create a more relaxed classroom environment, build stronger relationships with students, and engage students in the learning process. Humor used as an instructional strategy eases teacher stress and engages…

Because of their mostly upbeat everyday presence in most people's lives globally, Internet memes have gained attention as tools in spreading information and enacting attitudinal change in the face of environmental troubles. The reappropriation of memes for classroom purposes is not straightforward, however. We focus our exploration of Internet…

Humour is discussed in this article in relation to drama education in Ireland. Humour is identified as a potentially important feature of children's engagement in drama, and this is explained by an exploration of humour theory. Examples of how humour positively affects the experience of drama participation are also considered. The discussion is in…

Humour and comedy have gained increased significance in academic research in recent years. This article examines the importance of humour and comedy as valuable tools in qualitative social science research methodology. It makes the original contribution of utilizing humour and comedy theory, and critical understandings of both their macro and…

Games in the classroom is not a new concept. Simulations, board games, and online games are popular methods of incorporating game-based learning or gamification into the classroom. However, newer and more humor-based games popular with student populations, such as Cards Against Humanity, a popular card-based party game, have produced some…

In this paper, I revisit a spontaneous "laughter" event in a college classroom in China to decolonize in three steps my/our otherwise naturalized modernity/coloniality assumptions about teaching/teachers, learning/learners, gender, objects, and classroom space toward a Daoist affective ecological imaginary. First, I invoke postcritical…

Jokes, cartoons, songs, and games can help engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about hypothesis testing.

Opportunities for pupils to discuss with their teachers matters affecting their education are considered a positive step towards delivering a rights-based pedagogy. The suitability of this initiative may be questioned if pupils whose voice has been compromised are unwilling or unable to have their say. The substance of pupil-teacher dialogues will…

Jokes, cartoons, songs, poems, and games can be useful ways to engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about regression.

In this article, we present a witty and relevant resource for students to learn and apply communications concepts to assess barriers to communication and tactics for overcoming such barriers. Leveraging the humor of a classic Abbott and Costello comedy routine, we challenge students to analyze the clip and to identify best practices in…

There is no unique definition of circus pedagogy; however, "scholars agree that such a discipline could provide a valid alternative to learn and deepen various mobility contents". This article aims to provide strategies for implementing an elementary physical education Circus Unit. An overview of how to design three basic routines of a…

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected deep reflection in higher education classrooms: how do we attract and retain students to (temporary but nevertheless increasing) online learning experiences, how do we keep them at our universities and colleges, and how do we give students a learning experience from which they will remember meaningful…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put enormous pressure on educators to quickly adapt course materials for online delivery. In my case, a naturally humorous teaching style clashed with the arid world of computers in a virtual environment, leading me to believe in a reduced teaching effectiveness under such conditions, and that my students…