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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

Appeal Court Judge delivers inaugural lecture at the UFS
2009-09-16

 
Judge of Appeal, Belinda (BJ) van Heerden an expert on child and family law, recently delivered her inaugural lecture as Professor Extraordinary in the Department of Criminal and Medical Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS). With the topic Chicken soup Jurisprudence: Implementing children’s rights in South Africa she focused, amongst others, on the history of the implementation of children’s rights in South Africa. The picture of today is a whole lot different than that of twenty years ago. “We have invested in our children, we have begun to treat them as worthy citizens,” she said. According to her, children’s rights is one of the best success stories of our South African democracy so far. At the occasion were, from the left, front: Prof. Hennie Oosthuizen, Head of the Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the UFS; back: Judge Van Heerden, Prof. Driekie Hay, Vice Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS; and Dr Neels Swanepoel of the Department of Law of Procedure and Law of Evidence at the UFS.
Photo: Stephen Collett

Attached also please find the complete lecture.

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