Focusing on humor as a powerful instructional resource, this booklet addresses a variety of issues regarding humor in the elementary and secondary classroom. Thirteen ways in which humor can help teachers to achieve educational goals are presented, specifically that it (1) attracts attention and provokes thought, (2) liberates creative capacities,…

This study documents the differential sex and age influences on children's judgments of each other's humorousness, whom they prefer for friends, and the relationship between perceptions of humorousness and choice of friends. Two groups of children from a university-operated laboratory school participated in this study: one group consisted of 8-,…

Seven articles by educators with a variety of perspectives examine promising educational practices for use with children having emotional disturbances. Lee Bell offers strategies for using group activities in "All Together Now: Group Techniques for Teaching Students with Emotional Disturbances." Lyn Sarda and Rik Flynn discuss benefits…

This teaching guide accompanies the film series "Challenge of the Unknown," which focuses on problem solving in the real world. The guide is designed to bridge the gap between the concepts presented in the films and their classroom applications, by answering teachers' questions and needs and providing a variety of possible activities.…

A wide range of interesting observations of the past decade, which may now cast their shadow as the health communication paradigm of the forthcoming decade, can be clarified and correlated. One example of effective communication therapy was Norman Cousins's hospitalization with the crippling disease, "ankylosing spondylitis." Using large doses of…

The ten articles in this journal report on research and practice in the teaching of writing. Topics covered include sentence combining as a composition technique, peer evaluation in a technical writing class, a plan for teaching paragraph construction, the use of literary humor in a writing class, methods for setting the scene, how students view…

This paper discusses the positive influences of folk literature on children and the basis of its appeal to them. Sections focus on how traditional literature can be used to develop the child's language ability, critical thinking, value comprehension and sense of humor. The clear-cut structure, characters and language, and the brief and pointed…

This bibliography, intended for teachers of grades 7 and 8, presents 52 annotated literature sources and lists an additional 49 non-annotated sources by and about black Americans. The entries can be used to supplement assigned literature anthologies. Themes or catagories offered (with representations from various genres) are (1) "Black Pioneers…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Marie Borroff, Wallace Stevens, Joseph N. Riddle, Hi Simons, Sister M. Bernetta Quinn, C. Roland Wagner, Harold Bloom, Ralph J. Mills, Jr., Roy Harvey Pearce, Louis L. Martz, Morton Dauwen Zabel, and Northrop Frye--all…

American comic strips and cartoons can be useful in English-as-a-second-language classes. They introduce variety and provide an inside look into American life and thought. Many current popular comic strips have cultural, social, and political significance and discuss the American way of life, society, and the individual. The…

Cultural study provides an invaluable tool for the motivation and enrichment of work in the language classroom. The teacher of German, having decided to embark on a culture study program, must not, however, make the mistake of concentrating on the past, nor of letting current political boundaries restrict his approach; rather, he will find that…

Examines the effects of humorous distortions on children's learning from educational television. Measured information acquisition and funniness after exposure, and concludes that humor in educational messages that distorts information will give children faulty impressions of novel phenomena. (MM)

A tongue-in-cheek list of faculty behaviors for improving student evaluations suggests that faculty manipulation of student comments is both common and a threat to quality social work education. Reduced emphasis on student ratings is strongly advocated. (Author/MSE)

Discusses the importance of thinking, communication, and laughter to a successful and useful student publications program. (SRT)

A research project was conducted to determine how and what clown-doctors know on entry to the profession and how and what they learn both formally and informally in a hospital environment; the linkages between informal and formal learning in clown-doctor training and practice in Canada; and "best practices." Information was gathered…