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29 January 2024 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Igno van Niekerk
Prof Jannie Pretorius
Prof Jannie Pretorius uses an engaging and humorous teaching style that keeps his Life Science and Natural Science students fascinated and engaged.

Once upon a time, there was a monotonous teacher: the students did not like his lectures. Nothing interesting ever happened. The teacher grew old and retired. The end. Or not? According to research, teaching can be a humorous, fun, and enjoyable experience if you do it differently.

Mr Bean videos and Trevor Noah in the class

Prof Jannie Pretorius, a lecturer in the School of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Technology, uses an engaging and humorous teaching style that keeps his Life Science and Natural Science students fascinated and engaged. When starting out at the UFS, Prof Jannie wondered about using humour in a “serious tertiary environment.” He soon discovered that students, like most other people, also enjoy appropriate humour.

Using humour in education turned into a research project, and Prof Pretorius found himself showing Mr Bean videos and watching Trevor Noah shows to develop a lesson where the impact of using intentional humour was studied by measuring students’ reactions. An example from the transcription of his class on the mating habits of the praying mantis, where the female often bites the male’s head off to eat him for nourishment, shows how fun can be integrated into learning:

So, it seems that the praying mantis is like – praying; the male is saying: ‘Please don’t eat me, Sylvia, please!’… (laughter) … and she would pray back and say, ‘Please, Ronnie, I can’t resist you.’ (laughter).

Sensitive to their learners’ preferences

Despite the classes being fun, Prof Pretorius also cautions that it is important for teachers to be sensitive to their learners’ preferences and cultural backgrounds when using humour. “There is always an element of risk in the use of humour. As such, humour should always be used in a respectful and inclusive manner to ensure that all learners feel comfortable and included in the classroom.”

Prof Pretorius recognises that the use of humour depends on educators’ personal preferences. Ultimately, it is about what the students learn.

Listen to Prof Jannie Pretorius talk about his research. 

News Archive

SIFE students second in national competition
2009-08-21

 
The Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team of the University of the Free State (UFS) obtained a second place in the recent national competition held on the campus of the University of Johannesburg. The team, consisting of 80 students from the Main and Qwaqwa Campuses, came first in the category for Entrepreneurship and second in the category for Success Skills, Business Ethics and Financial Literacy. Twenty teams competed in the national competition, of which the University of KwaZulu-Natal will represent SIFE SA in Germany during October 2009. The UFS team who made the presentations was, from the left: Christiaan Steenkamp, a second-year B.Sc. Zoology student; Malefa Bosiu, a first-year LL.B. student; Ms Tessa Ndlovu, Faculty Advisor: SIFE UFS; Zandi Mabizela, a second-year B.Com. Economics student; and Noeleen Thahane, a third-year B.Com. Tourism Management student. Mbulelo Mpofana, a third-year B.Com. Investment Management and Banking student, was absent when the photo was taken.
Photo: Stephen Collett

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