Humor in mathematics teaching: tasks for the classroom

This book, Humour in Mathematics Teaching: tasks for the classroom, is a corollary of Humat Research Project (Humour in Mathematics Teaching), developed by the Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal), in partnership with the University of Minho (Portugal), the University of Granada (Spain) and the University of Mendoza (Argentina), with the support of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal) and of the CI&DETS. The project rests upon two fundamental assumptions. On the one hand, it assumes that humour plays a crucial role in creating a learning environment that can boost the students’ motivation and encourage them to learn mathematics. On the other hand, it assumes that the understanding of humour and the learning of Mathematics are two activities that require a good reasoning capacity. It also recognises that the exploratory teaching of mathematics, based on the work of the students leading to the completion of challenging mathematical tasks, provides a high potential for learning. All those considerations led to the birth of this book that offers mathematical tasks with a humorous twist and whose main goal is to fulfil these two functions: to persuade students to learn and make them think about humorous situations that involve mathematical concepts. To achieve this goal, the book is organised into two sections. The first is devoted to a brief introduction to the concept of humour and the other concepts that are associated to it approaches the concept initially in a broader sense, then focusing on the teaching of Mathematics. The largest section of the book, the second, is devoted to the presentation of mathematical tasks that are based on panels or comic strips involving humorous and witty content. The tasks suggested were planned for an exploratory-type teaching of mathematics and therefore they generally have an open nature. Almost invariably, we start by asking the student to describe the situation presented and to say whether or not they consider it funny. After this first request, we present others of a more specific nature. The selected tasks focus on mathematical topics that are taught in basic education. Our proposals can be used in two different circumstances. Some were designed to introduce new topics and others to consolidate previously learned knowledge. Tasks can be used and explored at different school levels, as long as we adapt the questions’ instructions or the way we guide the students’ work. The tasks are different according to the kind of reaction they are meant to trigger in students. Some tasks value affective/emotional aspects as they seek to seize the students’ attention and keep them engaged in their learning, thinking about an unexpected situation presented. Other tasks are focused on the development of cognitive and intellectual aspects. With those tasks, the students’ work goes far beyond the mere focus on learning. It represents challenges that arise from the cognitive ruptures that were conveyed by the proposed situations/tasks. For each task, we present a brief description of the situation and then we come up with didactic considerations about the several questions involved.

This work is financed by national funds through FCT – Science and Technology Foundation, I.P., under the project UID/Multi/04016/2016. Furthermore, we would like to thank the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and CI&DETS for their support.

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