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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

UFS Student counselling and Development co-hosts SAACDHE conference
2012-08-31

The Free State region of the Southern African Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education (SAACDHE), together with the University of the Free State’s Student Counselling and Development, is to host the 33rd annual SAACDHE conference. The conference will be held at a resort at Thaba Nchu from 10 to 13 September 2012.

SAACDHE represents the interests of counselling and development service providers in higher education and facilitates the holistic development of staff in counselling and development centres. Botswana, Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, North West, Western Cape and Witwatersrand are part of the association.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Back to Basic: Getting in touch with our students today”, which promises to be relevant for professionals who are involved in student counselling and development. Members will attend academic presentations and workshops on topics related to various sub-themes, including career counselling/development - building your brand in a competitive world of work; technology; adjustment (first-generation students); student psychopathology; trends and ethics in student counselling.

Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the university will deliver a keynote address at the conference.

For more information, contact Mrs Petro Herbst at 051 401 2853 or HerbstP@ufs.ac.za. Also visit the SAACDHE website at www.saacdhe.org.
 

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