"I Love Lucy" is considered to have been one of the most humorous television programs in the United States as early as the 1950s. This paper explores the use of language by the protagonists, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, in order to understand the source of the program's humor. Linguistic analysis of the Ricardos' speech is applied,…

The first aim of this study is to examine the validity and reliability of the Children's Playfulness Scale (CPS), which was developed to determine pre-school children's disposition towards play. The second aim is to test the effects of some variables on playfulness and whether such variables affect playfulness levels of children. About 196…

In this study, we report on the relationship between positive humour and burnout among 379 secondary school teachers in Hong Kong, and explore whether the relationship varies according to gender. The moderating effects of both affiliative and self-enhancing humour on each burnout component were then examined. High affiliative and self-enhancing…

Testing in an academic setting provokes anxiety in all students in higher education, particularly nursing students. When students experience high levels of anxiety, the resulting decline in test performance often does not represent an accurate assessment of students' academic achievement. This quantitative, experimental study examined the effects…

Studies about effective practice in Higher Education (HE), student retention, progression and attainment suggest that student engagement is a major factor in success. A sense of belonging to a community of students and academics is seen as key to creating effective engagement. Such studies have identified interventions that have proved successful…

Previous studies have implemented a quantitative method to explore the relationship between teacher self-disclosure and student participation in the educational context, particularly in communication courses. In this study, a qualitative method in data collection and analysis is used to fill this methodological gap to observe whether teachers' use…

This book is a primer for practitioners and researchers striving to incorporate the assessment of human strengths, resources, and fulfillment into their work. Contributors examine the scientific underpinnings and practical applications of measures of hope, optimism, self-efficacy, problem-solving, locus of control, creativity, wisdom, courage,…

There has been little research into 'language play', the manipulation of language for enjoyment, in children's narrative writing. The unprompted language play of 36 children was investigated in their writing of an imaginative story. The sample comprised three attainment sub-groups from a larger repeat-design quantitative study of writing…

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…

As legendary Cubs manager Joe Maddon did with his players, seeing students as people first works for teachers who hope to build cohesive classes that achieve. Maddon's strength was his emphasis on cultivating positive relationships among his players. Taking a tip from Maddon's strategy, Fornaciari, an Advanced Placement history teacher, shares…

Research has shown that students perceive their success, in even the most difficult courses, on their interactions and relationships with their instructors (Anderson, 2011; Micari & Pazos, 2012). In the online classroom, instructors run into an even greater challenge when it comes to engaging students, showing their personalities, and being…

This article shares the motivation, process, and outcomes of using humorous scenes from television comedies to teach the real world of tax practice. The article advances the literature by reviewing the use of video clips in a previously unexplored discipline, discussing the process of identifying and selecting appropriate clips, and introducing…

This article focuses on the structures of humor and joke telling that require particular kinds of attentiveness and particular relationships between speaker and audience, or more specifically, between classmates. First, I will analyze the pedagogical and relational preconditions that are necessary for humor to work. If humor is to work well, the…

This article begins by examining the bad reputation humor traditionally had in philosophy and education. Two of the main charges against humor--that it is hostile and irresponsible--are linked to the Superiority Theory. That theory is critiqued and two other theories of laughter are presented--the Relief Theory and the Incongruity Theory. In the…

Although theater-based interventions have emerged as an innovative health education platform, more research is needed to understand how these interventions work and to identify factors that make them successful and replicable in adolescent populations. This paper discusses the first research project conducted on High School Sex Squads (HSSS),…