Can Laughter Improve School Performance?

By NateRegier

I guess we’ll just have to find out! Next Element is partnering with Enterprise Elementary school in Wichita, KS and Laughter Links to study the benefits of laughter on social emotional skills, academic performance, and behavior in the classroom. Staff from Enterprise will practice Purposeful Aerobic Laughter, a program that teaches people to laugh for no reason! Then, Judy Young from Laughter Links will show teachers how to facilitate laughter as a part of every school day for students throughout the 2009-2010 school year. If the literature on the health benefits of laughter holds true, we expect to see improved behavior in the classroom, more time on task, improved grades, and better overall moods among staff and students. We are excited to follow up on our original research project studying the impact of workplace laughter groups, published in the Journal of Primary Prevention in 1997. Read the article in Wichita Public Schools newsletter.