A study of laughter in science lessons

W-M Roth; S.M. Ritchie; P. Hudson; V. Mergard

doi:10.1002/tea.20412

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A study of laughter in science lessons

W-M Roth, S.M. Ritchie, P. Hudson and V. Mergard

Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol.48(5), pp.437-458

2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20412

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Abstract

Laughter is a fundamental human phenomenon. Yet there is little educational research on the potential functions of laughter on the enacted (lived) curriculum. In this study, we identify the functions of laughter in a beginning science teacher's classroom throughout her first year of teaching. Our study shows that laughter is more than a gratuitous phenomenon. It is the result of a collective interactive achievement of the classroom participants that offsets the seriousness of science as a discipline. Laughter, whereas it challenges the seriousness of science, also includes the dialectical inversion of the challenge: it simultaneously reinforces the idea of science as serious business. Furthermore, levels of intimacy, complicity, and solidarity between the teacher and her students were reproduced and transformed through their laughter in class.

Details

Title: A study of laughter in science lessons
Authors/Creators: W-M Roth (Author/Creator) - University of Victoria
S.M. Ritchie (Author/Creator) - Queensland University of Technology
P. Hudson (Author/Creator) - Queensland University of Technology
V. Mergard (Author/Creator) - Queensland University of Technology
Publication Details: Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol.48(5), pp.437-458
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Identifiers: 991005545248207891
Copyright: © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Murdoch Affiliation: Murdoch University
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 6 Social Sciences; 6.11 Education & Educational Research; 6.11.295 Science Education
Web Of Science research areas: Education & Educational Research
ESI research areas: Social Sciences, general