Want to Boost Test Scores? Wish Your Students Good Luck

July 7th, 2010 By: Diane Trim in Articles, Teachers' Corner

Ben Goldacre is a medical doctor in the U.K. who writes a column in The Guardian called “Bad Science” and has a blog of the same name. Goldacre takes pride in debunking the pseudo-scientific claims from the dietary supplements, baby genius, and cosmetics industries.

Despite the fact that Dr. Goldacre doesn’t believe in the amazing health benefits and antioxidant powers of chocolate, I think that his conclusions are sound, especially those about the mind’s incredible response to belief.

The post is called “Superstition,” and is about the results of a German study of good luck. Even if you’re a skeptic, you might want to look at this like Pascal’s Wager and keep a lucky penny in your pocket. Of all the things that might not raise test scores, this one is pretty harmless and has some science behind it, too. Here’s what the researchers found and how we can apply it in the classroom.

Experiment One

The researchers took 28 test subjects to a putting green. The researchers gave the subjects a golf ball and 10 chances to putt. For half of the subjects, the experimenter told them, “Here is your ball. So far it has turned out to be a lucky ball.” For the other half, the experimenter said, “This is the ball everyone has used so far.”

Test subjects who had the “lucky ball” did better than those who had the plain ol’ golf ball, and not just a little bit. Lucky ball average: 6.42, plain ol’ golf ball: 4.75.

What does this mean in the classroom? Well, with this knowledge, every pen I loaned out would be a lucky pen. Any test sheet would be a lucky test sheet. Sure, it can be overdone, but that’s part of the appeal for me. Best of all, insisting that this quiz is a lucky quiz because other classes did well on it is free. And, it just might improve scores.

Experiment Two

The researchers asked a group of 51 test subjects to do one of those tilt board games where a player tilts a maze to roll balls into holes. Test subjects were in three different groups. Before a subject in the first group began the task, the researcher said, “I press the thumbs for you,” which is a German saying that means, “I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” The second group heard, “I press the watch for you,” which is a German expression that offers encouragement. The final group heard, “On you go.”

The test subjects who heard the fingers crossed suggestion finished the game faster than the other two groups.

What does this mean in the classroom? Before a test or a quiz, just say that you’re crossing your fingers for your students. It doesn’t cost anything to say it and your students might complete the task faster than you’d expected.

Experiment Three

The experimenters rounded up 41 test subjects who had a lucky charm and they asked the subject to bring the lucky object with them to the lab. Half of the subjects were allowed to keep their lucky charm with them in the testing room. The other lucky charms were taken away “to be photographed.” Researchers gave the test subjects a memory game and a post-game questionnaire about how confident they felt about their performance on the memory game.

Not only did the test subjects who had their good luck charm with them do better on the memory task, but also they reported higher levels of “self-efficacy,” which means they felt more confident about their work.

What does this mean for the classroom? It means that I’m going to talk about lucky charms from day one. I’m going to bring in a necklace or four-leaf clover and ask my students to do the same. I’m going to encourage them to bring their lucky charms (within reason) to class every day and refer to them often. “Does everyone have a lucky pencil?” If a little piece of luck makes my students perform better and feel more confident, I’ll start growing four-leaf clovers myself.

Experiment Four

The luck researchers invited 31 test subjects to bring their lucky charms to the lab. Again, only half of the subjects were able to take their good luck objects with them into the testing room. This time, the subjects had an anagram to play with: how many words can you create out of a certain word? Before the test, though, the researchers asked the test subjects to set a goal: what percentage of the words did the participant think she could find?

As you might expect now, the test subjects who were able to keep their lucky objects with them did better than their luck-deprived counterparts and they reported more “self-efficacy” or confidence. Even better, those with their good luck charms set higher goals and stuck with the task longer than the unlucky subjects.

What does this mean for the classroom? Again, I’m going to encourage good luck charms, but I’m also going to ask students to write a goal score in the bottom corner of the test or quiz page. Maybe if they give themselves a target to shoot for, they’ll try to hit it.

Bottom Line

Do I believe in luck? Well, I believe in the power of belief. I think that often what someone believes about herself becomes true. If she believes she’s lucky, she will be. If a student believes he’ll be successful, it becomes self-fulfilling. If I, as a teacher, express my belief in my students, that’s a powerful form of belief, too. Call it luck, I don’t care. It’s powerful and I’m going to use it in the name of good teaching and higher test scores.

How about you? Is this luck thing nonsense or will you, like me, exploit it to the point that every sheet of paper sparkles with fairy dust? Have you had experience with the power of luck or belief? Please share in the comments!

Tags: achievement, standardized test, Teaching Strategies