So far this blog has covered the many advantages of using humor in instruction, however we have danced, tippy-toed, scooted by, skirted around, slid over and dodged the idea of formalizing humor in our classrooms through the PRINTED WORD and even more so, THE TEST!!! Yikes! Is there room for humor in our assessments? Is it even appropriate to be funny in a test? After all a test is serious business!
Well... Let's not try to answer these worldly questions all by ourselves. Let us turn to research to find out the truth about humor on test items and sewn so seamlessly into the fabric of assessment. According to a research study conducted McMorris, R., Urbach,S., & Connor, M. (1985) , middle school students took a grammar test which resembled the format of state standardized testing. The students then completed questionnaires evaluating their test anxiety, their perception of items level of difficulty, their attractiveness to a humorous test format, and their actual score in the assessment.
Their results indicated that there were no large discrepancies between the scores of the students with the humorous test items as opposed to the students with the non-humorous test items. However, more number of students reflected that:
Well... Let's not try to answer these worldly questions all by ourselves. Let us turn to research to find out the truth about humor on test items and sewn so seamlessly into the fabric of assessment. According to a research study conducted McMorris, R., Urbach,S., & Connor, M. (1985) , middle school students took a grammar test which resembled the format of state standardized testing. The students then completed questionnaires evaluating their test anxiety, their perception of items level of difficulty, their attractiveness to a humorous test format, and their actual score in the assessment.
Their results indicated that there were no large discrepancies between the scores of the students with the humorous test items as opposed to the students with the non-humorous test items. However, more number of students reflected that:
- the test items seemed easier
- their anxiety during the test was reduced, and
- they liked/ preferred a humorous format over a non-humorous format.
So hallelujah! The students enjoyed the assessment in a more relaxing piece of mind. And isn't that so our goal anyways? That students feel relaxed while being assessed, so that we can quickly and effectively determine what instruction has worked effectively and what instruction needs to be repeated in a new and different way. So, the next time that you are making a test, add a few punch lines to some of the questions. Here are some examples to get your creative humor juices jump-started.
1.) The ___________ pumps the blood all over the body.
a.) lungs
b.) heart
c.) little monkeys from the zoo
d.) arteries
2.) Fill in the blank with a word from the word box. Magnets with like poles _______________.
attract repel talk dance
3.) When you are done with your test you should.
a.) put it in the homework bin
b.) run around the room with it above your head shouting free answers to the highest bidder
c.) crumble it up into a ball and shoot a 3-pointer into the waste bin.
d.) I don't know. I give up.
Remember it is up to you to keep the excitement going in your classroom. It is one of the most difficult tasks that you are charged with as a teacher. There is no secret formula for success or any magic happy pills that you can feed the students (it's wrong and illegal anyways) to get them up and motivated. So, use what you have got. Your humor. Add humor to test questions to reduce student stress, increase students perceptions of the assessment and make the test seem easier and more enjoyable to students. Don't worry, you would be doing the right thing!
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