THE EFFECT OF HUMOR ON LEARNING IN A PLANETARIUM

The effect of humor on retention of information was examined. The plan etarium at COSI, Ohio's Center of Science & Industry in Columbus, was the source of the study. General public museum visitors were the subje cts. A total of 495 adult subjects, ages 18 and older, were involved. Subjects were presented with one of two versions of a 15-minute taped general astronomy show. The two versions were identical except that on e had humorous inserts. The humor in the humorous version was related to and integrated with the educational material and was presented at a fast pace. Humor was placed every 90 seconds in the middle of the con cept being explained. A total of 20 concepts were described in the sho w, 10 of which had humorous inserts and which alternated with the 10 n onhumorous concepts. After the show visitors received a 20-question te st to determine their short-term retention of the information. The que stions were taken directly from the show's script. The test was of a f ill-in-the-blank format. Results indicated that the visitors who saw a humorous show had less retention of the instructional material and sc ored lower on the test than visitors who saw a nonhumorous show. (C) 1 997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.