Background: Pedagogical approaches to learning about LGBTQI+ themes and experiences remain a largely understudied topic in teacher education. This is partly due to anxieties around exploring these themes in nuanced and sensitive ways, with many teacher educators feeling ill-equipped to navigate the complexities of exploring so-called…

Humour and comedy have gained increased significance in academic research in recent years. This article examines the importance of humour and comedy as valuable tools in qualitative social science research methodology. It makes the original contribution of utilizing humour and comedy theory, and critical understandings of both their macro and…

Comedy, like higher education, is an institution forged from and heavily influenced by tradition. Performers readily recite their influences, drawing a clear line between their idols and the art they currently create onstage. However, because culture and norms surrounding comedy are considerably more malleable than those surrounding higher…

How can comedy be used as an effective tool and truly help innovate the learning experience? This paper outlines how aspects of comedy have been creatively integrated into primary and secondary academic curricula such as English Language Arts, social studies, drama, as well as in areas of mental health and wellness. The essay demonstrates, for…

This article considers ideas about the performance of personal stories in stand-up comedy that emerged during a teaching and performance project in a refugee camp in Palestine. After experimenting with a range of stand-up techniques and approaches, participants created public performances sharing their experiences of life under military occupation.

This paper discusses a project that used comedy workshops to explore the humour of autistic teenagers, focusing the discussion around three traits often -- and negatively -- associated with autism. The paper will then point to ways of rethinking these traits, and argue that doing so opens up a space for considering the aesthetics of comedy on the…

Bernie DeKoven is both a play theorist and a play practitioner. He is the author of "The Well-Played Game" (reissued in 2013 by MIT Press) as well as "Junkyard Sports," "Power Meetings," and "Connected Executives" and of the compact disc "Recess for the Soul," an assemblage of monologues about…

The BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama "A Higher Education" was written in 1999 to present a satire of a dysfunctional and cash-strapped university (Northfield) led by the egotistical and amoral Head of Drama, Don Crookfield (played by Rik Mayall). For those of us passionately engaged in the provision of higher education today, the satire also…

Rodeo clowns entertain crowds during and between rodeo events, such as bull riding and steer roping. While these events take place in the center of the arena, rodeo clowns walk along the outskirts and provide comic narrative. Between events, rodeo clowns take center stage and perform brief sketches to keep the crowd entertained. Rodeo clowns…

This article discusses ways in which improvisational comedy games and exercises can be used in college mathematics classrooms to obtain a democratic and supportive environment for students. Using improv can help students learn to think creatively, take risks, support classmates, and solve problems. Both theoretical and practical applications are…

Published in a 2008 issue of "Journal of Basic Writing" ("JBW"), "Journalism, Poetry, Stand-Up Comedy, and Academic Writing: Mapping the Interplay of Curricular and Extracurricular Literate Activities" was Kevin Roozen's first single-authored publication. Drawn from data collected for the first case study from…

Although contemporary dance improvisation techniques and comedy improvisation are seldom linked, the two forms evolved around the same time and have many similarities. Both forms exist in the moment, share a highly ephemeral nature, and make use of physical games and structures. Both forms teach students the skill of being present, so essential to…

Asynchronous discussions are a useful instructional resource in the online communication course. In discussion groups students have the opportunity to actively participate and interact with students and the instructor. Asynchronous communication allows for flexibility because "participants can interact with significant amounts of time between…

This paper argues that environmental destruction arises from a discourse rooted in Western Economic and Scientific Theory. This discourse artificially separates individuals from our natural world and argues that competition and utilitarian actions are beneficial to society. It is however, a discourse that is taking us to a Shakespearean tragic…

Social studies teachers are tasked with aiding their students' abilities to engage in public debate and make politically sound decisions. One way the authors have found to help facilitate this is to draw connections between content knowledge and current political conversations through the use of clips from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." While…