Abstract:

Humor in the classroom can increase student engagement and instructor relatability, when applied correctly. While some applications of humor can be distracting, we have found that integration of humor in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) educational example can produce transfer of knowledge from the engaging humorous example to a general technical example by managing the student’s cognitive load. Integrated humor avoids the distractions that can increase the student’s extraneous cognitive load. Various studies confirm that knowledge transfer is likely when the engaging humorous example is structurally similar to the relevant technical problem (isomorphic examples). Our work has shown that learning outcomes are enhanced using a humorous, but isomorphic example to teach advanced STEM concepts. Our results suggest this is due to an enhancement of the germane cognitive load relative to the extraneous cognitive load. The germane cognitive load is the mental effort dedicated to learning. The challenge is to find an engaging humorous example that is isomorphic with the advanced technical concepts typical of the university STEM curriculum. Here we describe a systematic approach to developing such examples, and provide numerous examples. These examples can increase engagement via humor, but they are also easier to understand because they are based on common experiences and situations. This approach appears to avoid the decrease in learning outcomes that result from the “Seductive Detail” effect. This effect results from the addition of details to the educational lesson to make the lesson more realistic. However, these details sometimes confuse the student, presumably by increasing the intrinsic cognitive load of the problem. This is particularly problematic in STEM lessons because they already have a relatively high intrinsic cognitive load. However, the choice of a humorous example that is easier to understand can overcome this effect as long as it is isomorphic with a realistic STEM concept of lesson.

Keywords:

Humor, STEM, cognitive load, knowledge transfer, seductive details.