50 Times When Students Realized They Have Absolutely Awesome Teachers (New Pics)

Humor is a wonderful learning tool and helps us retain information much better. That’s because humor activates the dopamine reward system in our brains, stimulates our long-term memory, as well as our goal-oriented motivation.

Or, to put it succinctly, we remember that which makes us laugh. It’s a fact that has been known throughout history. And it’s one of the main reasons why people living throughout history have suggested that jokes (especially naughty ones) help us remember things quicker and better. The next time you need to memorize something, try associating it with something funny and shocking.

Sarah Henderson explains on Edutopia that humor helps unite separate individuals into a cohesive, supportive community. That’s very important in the classroom (not to mention outside the classroom as well).

However, not all forms of humor are equal in the classroom: the humor that educators use has to be related to the topic for us to retain the information for longer. But cruel or forced humor, as well as sarcasm, doesn’t always have the same positive benefits that genuine laughter does.