Statistics? You Must be Joking: The Application and Evaluation of Humor when Teaching Statistics

References

• Berk, R. A. (1996), “Student ratings of 10 strategies for using humor in college teaching”, Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 7, 71–92.
   Google Scholar
• Berk, R. A. (1999), “Does humor in course tests reduce anxiety and improve performance?”, College Teaching, 48, 151–158.
   Google Scholar
• Berk, R. A. (2002), Humor as an instructional defibrillator, Sterling, VA: Stylus Publications.
   Google Scholar
• Berk, R. A., and Nanda, J. P. (1998), “Effects of jocular instructional methods on attitudes of anxiety and achievement in statistics courses”, HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 11, 383–409.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Berk, R. A., and Nanda, J. P. (2006). “A randomized trial of humor effects on test anxiety and test performance”, HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, 11, 383–409.
   Google Scholar
• Bligh, D. (2001). What's the use of lectures? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
   Google Scholar
• Bryant, J., Comisky, P. W., Crane, J. S., and Zillman, D. (1980), “Relationship between college teachers' use of humor in the classroom and students' evaluations of their teachers”, Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 511–519.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cobb, G. (1992), Teaching statistics. In L.A. Steen (Ed.), Heeding the call for change: Suggestions for curricular action MAA Notes No. 22 (pp. 3–43), Washington DC: Mathematical Association of America
   Google Scholar
• Cornett, C. E. (1986), Learning through laughter: Humor in the classroom, Bloomington IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
   Google Scholar
• Earley, M. (2007), “Students' expectations of introductory statistics instructors”, Statistics Education Research Journal, 6, 51–66.
   Google Scholar
• Edwards, C. M., and Gibboney, E. R. (1992), “The power of humor in the college classroom”, Educational Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Document ED346535
   Google Scholar
• Forte, J. A. (1995), “Teaching statistics without sadistics”, Journal of Social Work Education, 31, 204–218.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Friedman, H. H., Friedman, L. W., and Amoo, T. (2002), “Using humor in the introductory statistics course”, Journal of Statistics Education, 10(3) ww2.amstat.org/publications/jse/v10n3/friedman.html
   Google Scholar
• Friedman, H. H., Halpern, N., and Salb, D. (1999), “Teaching statistics using humorous anecdotes”, Mathematics Teacher, 92, 305–308.
   Google Scholar
• Frymier, A. B., and Thompson, C. A. (1992), “Perceived teacher affinity-seeking in relation to perceived teacher credibility”, Communication Education, 41, 388–399.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Garner, R. L. (2006), “Humor in Pedagogy: How Ha-Ha Can Lead to Aha!,” College Teaching, 54, 177–180.
   Google Scholar
• Gorham, J., and Christophel, D. M. (1990), “The relationship of teachers' use of humor in the classroom to immediacy and student learning”, Communication Education, 39, 313–324.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hammen, C. S., and Kelland, J. L. (1994), “Attendance and grades in a human physiology course”, American Journal of Physiology, 267, 105–8.
   Google Scholar
• Kaplan, R. M., and Pascoe, G. C. (1977), “Humorous lectures and humorous examples: Some effects upon comprehension and retention”, Journal of Educational Psychology, 69, 61–65.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Klavir, R., and Gorodetsky, M. (2001), “The processing of analogous problems in the verbal and visual-humorous (cartoons) modalities by gifted/average children”, Gifted Children Quarterly, 45, 205–215.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Korobkin, D. (1988), “Humor in the classroom: Considerations and strategies”, College Teaching, 26, 154–158.
   Google Scholar
• Lesser, L. M. (2002), “Stat song sing-along!”, STATS: The Magazine for Students of Statistics, 33, 16–17.
   Google Scholar
• Lesser, L. M. (2003), “Letter to the editor”, Journal of Statistics Education, 11(1) ww2.amstat.org/publications/jse/v11n1/lesser_letter.html
   Google Scholar
• Lesser, L. M., and Pearl, D. K. (2008). “Functional fun in statistics teaching: Resources, research, and recommendations”, Journal of Statistics Education, 16(3) ww2.amstat.org/publications/jse/v16n3/lesser.html
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Lomax, R. G., and Moosavi, S. A. (2002), “Using humor to teach statistics: Must they be orthogonal?”, Understanding Statistics, 1, 113–130.
   Google Scholar
• Lundberg, E., and Thurston, C. M. (1992), If They're Laughing, They're Not Killing Each Other, Fort Collins, CO: Cottonwood Press.
   Google Scholar
• McMorris, R. F., Boothroyd, R. A., and Pietrangelo, D. J. (1997), “Humor in educational testing: A review and discussion”, Applied Measurement in Education, 10, 269–297.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Moore, D. (1997), “New pedagogy and new content: The case of statistics”, International Statistical Review, 65, 123–165.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morgan, B. L. (2001), “Statistically lively uses for obituaries”, Teaching of Psychology, 28, 56–58
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morris, E. J., Joiner, R., and Scanlon, E. (2002), “The contribution of computer-based activities to understanding statistics”, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 114–124.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Neuman, W. L. (2006), Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches, New York: Pearson Education Inc
   Google Scholar
• Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Slate, J., Paterson, F., Watson, M., and Schwartz, R. (2000), “Factors associated with underachievement in educational research courses”, Research in the Schools, 7, 53–65.
   Google Scholar
• Onwuegbuzie, A. J., and Wilson, V. A. (2003), “Statistics anxiety: nature, etiology, antecedents, effects, and treatments-a comprehensive review of the literature”, Teaching in Higher Education, 8, 195–209.
   Google Scholar
• Pan, W., and Tang, M. (2005), “Students' perceptions on factors of statistics anxiety and instructional strategies”, Journal of Instructional Psychology, 32, 205-21
   Google Scholar
• Powell, J. P., and Andresen, L. W. (1985), “Humor and teaching in higher education”, Studies in Higher Education, 10, 79–90.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Riggs, J. W., and Blanco, J. D. (1994), “Is there a correlation between student lecture attendance and clinical science subject examination score?”, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 84, 311–313.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sade, R. M., and Stroud, M. R. (1982), “Medical student attendance at lectures: Effect on medical school performance”, Journal of Medical Education, 57, 191–192.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Schacht, S. P., and Stewart, B. J. (1992), “Interactive/user friendly gimmicks for teaching statistics”, Teaching Sociology, 20, 329–332.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smith, R. E., Ascough, J. C., Ettinger, R. F., and Nelson, D. A. (1971), “Humor, anxiety, and task performance”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19, 243–246
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Torok, S. E., McMorris, R. F., and Lin, W. (2004), “Is humor an appreciated teaching tool?”, College Teaching, 51, 14–2
   Google Scholar
• Trefts, K., and Blakeslee, S. (2000), “Did you hear the one about the Boolean operators? Incorporating comedy into library instruction”, Reference Services Review, 28, 369–377.
   Google Scholar
• Tremblay, P. F., Gardner, R. C., and Heipel, G. (2000), “A model of the relationships among measures of affect, previous achievement, and performance in introductory statistics”, Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 32, 40–48.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• White, G. W. (2001), “Teacher's report of how they used humor with students perceived use of such humor”, Education, 122, 337–348.
   Google Scholar
• Wilson, V. A. (1999), “Student response to a systematic program of anxiety-reducing strategies in a graduate-level introductory educational research course”, paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Que., April.
   Google Scholar
• Zeedyk, M. S. (2006), “Detective work on statistics street: Teaching statistics through humorous analogy”, Psychology Learning & Teaching, 5, 97–109.
   Google Scholar
• Ziv, A. (1988), “Teaching and learning with humor: Experiment and replication”, Journal of Experimental Education, 57, 5–15
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar