Can Teachers Actually Increase Student Well-Being in Just a Couple Minutes a Day? [...Yes!]

During the 2019-2020 school year (before COVID 19 smacked us in the face) I decided to up my game a bit more regarding positive psychology in education, so I conducted a study in my classroom. I had been implementing a number of positive priming techniques at the beginning of classes, but I wasn’t really measuring anything to gauge impact or level of success. I decided to create a 25-day study and really measure some things. 

Who were the subjects?
I collected data from 56 high school students ranging from 9th to 12th grade. 

We didn’t use any names. I gave each student a random “secret number” that was assigned to their assessments. I didn’t know who had what number; I could only see the trend within each student number. They just had to write their number somewhere so they could put it on their assessments (and yes, a couple of students forgot their number after the first assessment, so we had to do some problem-solving). 

What did they do? 
First, I gave them a baseline test to assess their level of well-being. It is based on concepts created by Margaret L. Kern, Lisbeth Benson, Elizabeth A. Steinberg, and Laurence Steinberg of the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. The assessment is intended to measure the students’ well-being regarding 5 categories: 

• Engagement
• Perseverance 
• Optimism
• Connectedness
• Happiness

What the students did each day is pretty straightforward--during the first few minutes of class, students would complete the following research-based tasks: 

1. What Went Well (WWW): Students wrote down three things that went well in the last 24 hours...or they could write down 1 thing that went well with three details. 
2. Daily Gratitudes: Students would write down 3 NEW things they were grateful for each day. By the end of the 25 days, students would have a list of 75 unique things, people, ideas, places, etc., that they were grateful for. Additionally, Thursdays were “Thank You Thursdays”--students would send a “thank you” message to someone in their life. (As a side note, this was the favorite day for many of them. Most of them would send a text message to someone and would receive a message back quite quickly. Sometimes it was a parent asking, “okay...do you need money or something?” Haha! --But most of the time it was a heartfelt message of gratitude right back at the student.)

The theory behind these tasks is that they will most likely increase Optimism. Basically, I was encouraging students to think about what was good in their life...what was going well and what they were thankful for. And it did raise Optimism in my students. However, that wasn’t the only positive result. 

What were the results? 
After the 25 days were completed, students took the EPOCH assessment again. All 5 areas increased, but some more than others. 

• Engagement: +6.8%
• Perseverance: +3.4%
• Optimism: +7.8%
• Connectedness: +1.2
• Happiness: +2.6
• Across all categories, there was an average increase of +4.4%. 

Optimism, the target category, grew the most at nearly 8%, but close behind was Engagement almost 7%. Why? Research has shown that putting someone in a positive state can make them up to 10x more engaged in a task. By thinking positively about their life, students were most likely in a positive state to start class. 

I was very pleased with the outcome after just 25 days, and I immediately began to think about how I could modify things to impact the categories that had smaller gains. 

Would I do anything differently? 
I continue to learn more and more pretty much every day. Here are a couple of the tweaks I would make to make things even more impactful: 

• Always include the details. After doing more recent research, the power comes from the details. Just making lists is okay, but if you can add specific details, it helps you relive the experience and cements it in your mind even more. As far as your brain is concerned, it is almost like you are experiencing it again...which is awesome!
• Include social connection every day. By allowing the students to open up to their classmates and potentially share something they wrote down, it will most likely impact their feelings of social connection. 

What did the students say? 
A vast majority of students really enjoyed the daily activities. It became part of their routine, but one that made them feel good. Many students commented on how they were starting to notice things throughout the day that they could write down the next day. They were beginning to change the way their brain was viewing and scanning the world. There were also students that said it seemed like it was positively impacting their extracurriculars--they felt more focused and calm during competition. In essence, the students enjoyed the experience and felt it positively impacted them even beyond the classroom.


*Click here to see the official PDF describing the EPOCH categories. 

**If you are interested in the survey I used, or have any questions, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. 

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