Higher seminar - Maria Berge The power of a joke: different forms of pitfalls in science and science education

Jokes and humour are important elements in all communication – also among scientists and in science education. We know from research that humour contributes to a good working atmosphere and has disciplining effects on an audience. The aim of this talk is to explore, discuss, and deconstruct jokes and humour in science and science education together. I will focus on the power aspect of humour – who is laughing and who is not? What is humour telling us about the context where it appears? I will give you several examples of different kinds of humour from the context of science and science education, as well as how this humour constitutes local norms of science.

Maria Berge  is Associate Professor in science and technology education at Umeå University. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Education Research. Her research interests are centred around issues related to interactional patterns and norms in the context of learning science and technology.

Preparatory reading:

Berge, M. (2017). The role of humor in learning physics: A study of undergraduate students. Research in science education, 47(2), 427-450. Open access

Kobayashi, S., & Berge, M. (2022). Learning norms of science through laughter: a study of humour in life science supervision. International Journal of Science Education, 44(10), 1680-1699. Open access