The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — George Bernard Shaw

There is nothing in education that makes it inherently good or bad; boring or fun. Classroom learning could be dry, tedious, and monotonic. Or, it could be challenging, involving, inspiring, and fun. It is what we make it to be.

One of the ways to show students that education is valuable in itself as an activity is to get them involved in it. Using different interactive activities is an entertaining way to engage students and explain concepts. In fact, acknowledging the limitations of our own rationality, not with regret, but with a sense of challenge and a great dose of humor, is an important step towards developing acceptance and humility for the ideas of others.

While some professor may think that such practices are childish, naïve, and not serious, psychologists tell us that humor, games, social play, and fantasy are more than just fun; they are deeply entrenched in human nature and intelligence, and everyone could benefit from their practice. You can watch a great TED presentation on this topic [right here] and another one [here].

Therefore I constantly try to bring liveliness to my lectures by challenging students with a variety of interactive activities. Breaking the stereotype that the classroom is a boring place should be a priority for all teachers. Classroom experiments, games, and demonstrations is a way to do this. Two great resources for creative ideas that I have used in the past are: Games Economics Play [visit here] and Professor’s Dirk Mateer’s youtube channel [visit here].

Finally, using humor and interaction for in-class and out-of-class assignments could make even the routine part of taking a course interesting. Last semester I wrote my first exam in the form of a story in which President Obama and President Bush survive a shipwreck on a deserted island. Some students responded that this is the first time when they actually enjoyed taking an exam, so they found value into doing something that is seen as a nothing more than a mere routine [sample exam is available upon request].

On another instance, as an extra credit opportunity, I asked students to watch an episode from South Park [watch here] about the economic crisis, and relate it to what they have learned in class. Most students replied that they never thought they can earn points by doing something they actually enjoy and do anyways in their spare time.

In either case, the moral of the story is that exams and other assignments are assets that teachers can use in creative ways to get students involved in the learning process. For instance, I always put interesting quotes in my exams for this could be the best time to learn something new or get a poetic relief from the stress.

Watch President Bush speaking about oil prices [watch here]