Experts advocate good humor at classroom as "antidote to depression and low performance".
The University of Navarra hosts the XL seminar of Educational Centers on "Education Positive: a look from different perspectives".
"A sense of humor and positive thinking work to our benefit and that of others and are an antidote to depression and low performance". So says Begoña García Larrauri, PhD in Psychology from the University of Valladolid, who will speak next week at the XL seminar of Educational Centers of the University of Navarra. The meeting, in which 40 teachers from schools all over Spain will participate, will be held under the degree scroll "Education Positive: a look from different perspectives".
According to the expert, author of the book Claves para aprender en un ambiente positivo y divertido, the optimistic person "evaluates status in the face of difficulties in a realistic way and is also more open to seeking solutions", therefore, optimism and a sense of humor "should be taught from an early age in the family and school environment".
Thus, although research on the influence of positive Education in the classroom is recent, "some programs of study already underline the favorable effect of humor on learning, information retention and student performance".
An experience internship: The Aulas Felices program
In the XL seminar of Educational Centers, coordinated by the department of Education of the School of Philosophy and Letters, will participate several experts among which Ricardo Arguís, director of the center of teachers and resources "Juan de Lanuza" of Zaragoza and co-author of the program Aulas Felices, first guide in language Spanish directed to work the Education Positive of students from 3 to 18 years old.
"It is a free and freely available platform whose goal is to provide resources that enhance the development staff and social student body and promote the happiness of student, teachers and families," he said. The project, which is applied in schools throughout Spain and in Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, has become popular on the Internet, where in one year it has received more than 20,000 visits from 61 different countries.
Aulas Felices presents different practical exercises "with which the faculty can work on its two fundamental axes, mindfulness and development of personal strengths, integrating them within the ordinary activity".