Humour and comedic storytelling as didactic tools : A study on engagement and understanding in social studies education – how humour and comedic storytelling can enrich social studies teaching
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of humor and storytelling techniques within comedy as didactic tools in high school social studies. The purpose is to analyze how these methods impact students' engagement, understanding, and performance. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, including surveys, interviews, classroom observations, and the analysis of grade data as well as formative and summative assessments. Participants consist of two social studies teachers and 58 first-year students from four vocational programs at a vocational upper secondary school in the Stockholm region. A test group was exposed to humor and comedic storytelling techniques through structured narratives, role-playing, and visual aids, while the other groups served as control groups. The marginal differences in prior grade distribution (approximately ±5% variation in average grades) among the student groups from middle school provided a homogeneous starting point, enhancing the study’s validity. The study’s results reveal that humor and comedic storytelling clearly improve students’ engagement and understanding of complex topics within social studies. Students in the test group (Group A) consistently reported high levels of interest and participation in social studies lessons. Their knowledge levels, based on both formative and summative assessments, were on average 15 per cent higher than those of students in the control group (Group B), who did not receive instruction with the same focus on humor and comedic storytelling as Group A. The study demonstrates that a structured humoristic storytelling technique fosters an inclusive and relaxed learning environment and that comedic storytelling helps to concretize abstract concepts and promote deeper learning. Observations also indicated that these methods improved the classroom climate and relationships between students and teachers. Despite these positive findings, the study identified challenges: humor can be distracting if not strategically aligned with the content, and there is a risk of excluding students if the humor is overly ironic or satirical. For instance, humor that inadvertently touches on cultural or personal sensitivities can create unwanted tensions. Humor and comedy that target others and ridicule them – such as mocking, scornful, insulting, or derogatory humor – should therefore be avoided in teaching. To minimize the negative consequences of actively using humor and comedic storytelling in social studies instruction, professional development for teachers in humor and comedic storytelling techniques is recommended, as well as the development of strategic planning models to effectively integrate these methods into high school social studies education. Additionally, future research should examine the long-term effects, cultural variations, and neuroscientific perspectives to further illuminate the potential and refine the use of these methods and pedagogical tools to enrich social studies education at the high school level. Keywords: humor, storytelling techniques, didactics, social studies, engagement, understanding, classroom climate, students, learning methods, pedagogical tools, formative and summative assessment
Author: Hedlund Leijon, Thomas
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7038235080