When students write comedy scripts: humor as an experiential learning method in environmental education

Abstract

Humor has received increasing attention in environmental educational research in recent years as it can have a variety of positive effects on learning atmosphere, outcomes, and student-educator relationships. In most cases, humor is used by educators while students act as consumers. However, this does not exploit the full potential of humor for environmental education. This article shows how humor can be applied as a distinct learning method and what outcomes and effects can be achieved. Our method draws on approaches from comedy-writing schools, thus bridging this community of practice to environmental education. It provides students with an understanding of the basics of humor, empowers them with practices to develop their own humorous texts, and guides them towards high-quality comedy scripts. We implemented several master courses at the Vienna University of Economics and Business based on this method. In 2021, we assessed the effects on students’ sustainability knowingness, attitudes, and behavior and analyzed qualitative outcomes. It was revealed that humor can play a pivotal role in environmental education as it fosters critical thinking and creativity, helps students cope with emotionally difficult topics, and supports them in becoming agents of change.