A good laugh
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=382
A lesson plan for Grades 9–12 Biology and Psychology
About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 9–12
- Subjects
- science (biology and life science), social studies (psychology), thinking skills (higher order thinking, information literacy, research skills)
- Provider
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
Legal
This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.
In this lesson, students explore various theories about laughter, laughter’s effects on our mental health, and the benefits of laughter to our immune system. The second lesson of a two-part series should encourage a more sophisticated understanding of how the nervous system and the brain work together. After reviewing the effects of laughter on the human body, students determine why certain jokes are funny to some people, but not to others. Once they discuss incongruity theory, superiority theory, and relief theory, students read an article about laughter from How Stuff Works and answer questions about the resource. Finally, students prepare a report on laughter and the immune system. Working in small groups, they prepare a project and present their findings on the immune system, and how laughter affects this system of the body. Science NetLinks provides student handouts, links to several web resources that provide information about the human immune system, and detailed directions and necessary questions for completing the lesson.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Social Studies (2003)
Grades 11–12 — Psychology
- Goal 5: The learner will analyze basic concepts of motivation and emotion.
- Objective 5.03: Analyze the theories and physiology of emotion.
Science (2005)
Grades 9–12 — Biology
- Goal 4: The learner will develop an understanding of the unity and diversity of life.
- Objective 4.04: Analyze and explain the interactive role of internal and external factors in health and disease:
- Genetics.
- Immune response.
- Nutrition.
- Parasites.
- Toxins.
- Objective 4.05: Analyze the broad patterns of animal behavior as adaptations to the environment.
- Innate behavior.
- Learned behavior.
- Social behavior.
- Objective 4.04: Analyze and explain the interactive role of internal and external factors in health and disease:
