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VOLUME XVIII, NUMBER 10

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD), COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, THE

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN ¢ WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

 

Designing Content-Related Classroom Humor

Early institutions of higher education, a product of
the Middle Ages, regarded humor as unscholarly—
laughter and humor were considered frivolous activi-
ties that distracted from what was important. However,
studies show classroom humor increases student
attentiveness, decreases class monotony, and leads to
superior retention of material. As a college chemistry
professor for 25 years, I have tried to combine unique
humor with subject matter. Although all of the follow-
ing examples are related to chemistry, they should be
applicable to other disciplines.

¢ Using props teaches chemistry and promotes humor.
Referring to myself as the “Amazing Thallinski,” I
bring ordinary playing cards to class to introduce
entropy (disorder). What is my talent? Select a number
from 1 to 52, and I can identify the card from the top of
the deck. Of course, cards are methodically arranged
from ace to king by spades, clubs, hearts, and dia-
monds. Students complain that the deck is rigged and
call me a fake. ] respond that my expertise resides not
in the ability to memorize the order of 52 randomly
distributed cards, but in bestowing to the system an
extremely low entropy. With a quick shuffle of the
deck, the system’s entropy increases, and my amazing
ability vanishes.

¢ Amusing anecdotes not only entertain, they help
students remember important contributors. The work of
Gay-Lussaac on the thermal expansion of gases estab-
lished what is known as Charles’ Law. A student is
certain to ask, “Then why is it called Charles’ Law?” |

respond that Gay-Lussac already determined the law of

combining volumes, and not wishing to confuse
freshmen with more than one law bearing his name, he
conferred the honor on Charles, a fellow hot-air bal-
loonist.

¢ Anecdotes can be factual and humorous. Arrenhius,
credited for the first acid-base theory, was disappointed
when his dissertation received a fourth-class rating
from his professors. Ironically, the same work earned
him the Nobel prize in chemistry. The anecdote garners
compassion for the famous scientist and demonstrates
that professors can make mistakes.

¢ Content can be related to memorable experiences. The
study of atmospheric pressure affords me the opportu-

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nity to recall the lowest pressure ever recorded in
northeast Ohio. While driving to a Friday morning
class in January 1978, I heard the radio warn of the
approaching “storm of the century.” Realizing storms
with this billing do not come every year, I wisely
turned around and headed for home. Blinding snow,
70-mile-per-hour wind, a 30-degree drop in tempera-
ture in matter of minutes, and the lowest pressure ever
recorded at the Akron-Canton airport soon greeted the
region. Students enjoy the footnote to the narrative:
The brave souls who arrived that morning for class at
our rural Orrville campus were stranded for most of
the weekend!

* Colorful expressions communicate special significance.
As a novice instructor, I often warned students to pay
attention because “This is important!” Later, when
grading exams, | wondered why some students did not
heed the advice. A few years of seasoning taught me to
announce, “This will be on the next exam!” Although
the words cause heads to pop up, notebooks to open,
and pencils to get sharpened, the magic works only a
finite number of times during the 15-week semester.

On the momentous occasion of presenting enanti-
omers (mirror image molecules), I say, “You are about
to eat from the tree of knowledge and shortly will lose
your innocence.” Before introducing carbocations
(carbon with a positive charge), I tell students to record
the time and date for posterity. Knowing that errors
result from temperature calculations, I say, “Never use
the Celsius scale, but this warning won’t stop some of
you!”

Exercise caution when using vivid portrayals. For
example, in a nucleophilic substitution, a weak base
such as the bromide ion is replaced by a stronger base
(the nucleophile). To emphasize the driving force
behind this reaction, I once referred to the bromide ion
as a charter member of the “Leaving Group Hall of
Fame.” On the subsequent exam, one answer cited
affiliation of the bromide ion with this bogus organiza-
tion.

¢ Analogies transform abstract concepts into more
familiar examples. Consider an aspect of LeChatelier’s
Principle: Increasing the temperature causes equilib-
rium to shift in the direction (reactant or product) of

sx THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educational Administration

at College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, SZB 348, Austin, Texas 78712-1293