Presents eight humorous ways a consumer can tell whether he has purchased a good or bad microcomputer. (MBR)

Tongue-in-cheek Tolkien-like impressions of a conference on open education (Kerhonkson, New York, May 1973.) Strong jargonese overtones imply a high futility level score for this, and many other such conferences to which educators flock. (EA)

Satirizes attempts by the Reagan administration to address social problems. (RH)

Shows how particular features of language are exploited for purpose of humor and reveals the general persuasiveness of incongruity as an element of humor. Features include polysemy, syntactic structures and meaning, deep and surface structure, hyperbole and metaphor, speech patterns, problems of communication, and connectors or linking words. (BK)

This article gives humorous interpretations of educational terms in vogue in the professional community. (CJ)

Uses as vehicle the history of "Speculative Excursions into the Everyday Lives of Old People" sessions at Gerontological Society of America's Annual Scientific Meetings to present semiserious discussion of place of humor in gerontology. Describes purposes of sessions, reactions of colleagues, rejections of papers, and hopes and future prospects of…

Offers 15 humorous questions and answers for certifying Bards for poetry therapy who, once certified, will know exactly what to do when an irresistible farce faces down an immovable objective correlative. (SR)

This tongue-in-cheek humorous article reviews the therapeutic interventions available for children with autism by slightly changing the terminology used. Examples include "discrete trails,""indiscreet trails,""behavior oralysis,""incident training,""by-the-way training," the "unnatural language paradigm,""facilitated miscommunication," and…

The assumptions about children's development are challenged by recent research findings that show learning begins at an earlier age and proceeds at a different pace than expected. Sometimes researchers find that they have misunderstood children's cognitive, social, and physical development due to errors in measurement (faulty tests or tools),…

This article describes a study that explores efforts to promote democratic practice in a diverse school context. More specifically, it documents administrative endeavors to include members of the school community--teachers, parents and students--in the various school processes by encouraging inclusive communicative practices. The findings of the…

Humor has been promoted as a teaching tool that enhances student engagement and learning. The present report traces the pathway from research to practice by reflecting upon various ways to incorporate humor into the face-to-face teaching of statistics. The use of humor in an introductory university statistics course was evaluated via interviews…

Best-selling author Marcia L. Tate brings her trademark "dendrite-growing" teaching strategies to this practitioner-friendly collection of brain-compatible methods for engaging K-12 students in social studies. Included are 20 proven strategies and more than 200 grade-leveled activities for applying them. Teachers will find concrete ways to…

Based on theory and research, social aspects like friendship and sense of relatedness are fundamental in the development of children's cultural identity and achievement of outcomes. It is argued that this is a motivational aspect often neglected in research studies focusing on students' motivation and learning. Theory and research on motivation…

Elementary school science is an often-neglected subject in the current literacy-focused political atmosphere. However, reading informational trade books about science in literacy class can help children increase their science knowledge. Incorporating humor through content-related cartoons is an effective way to engage students in deeper…