Background and Goal of Study:

Results from students’ end-of-course evaluations of teaching (SETs) are taken seriously by faculties and form part of a decision-base for the recruitment of academics, distribution of funds or changes to students’ curricula. However, there is some doubt as to whether these evaluation instruments accurately measure the quality of course content and the quality of knowledge transfer. We investigated whether a simple intervention, the provision of chocolate cookies, influences SET results.

Materials and Methods:

In this prospective randomized controlled trial 118 undergraduate third year medical students were randomly allocated to 20 groups. During the first of four sessions of a curricular emergency course 10 groups were provided with 500gr of chocolate cookies and 10 groups did not. Afterwards, all students completed a 38-question evaluation sheet concerning the teacher, course contents, materials and self-assessment.

Results and Discussion: 

The cookie-group evaluated teachers as significantly better than the no-cookie group (114.0 [111.0; 117.0] vs 111.0 [102.3; 115.8], p= 0.003*). Course material was considered better (21.5 [19.0; 24.0] vs 20.0 [17.3; 22.0], p=0.027*) and summation scores evaluating the course overall were significantly higher in the cookie-group (225 [216; 233] vs 216 [203; 231], p= 0.011*). Effect size according to Cohen was calculated to be medium. These findings fit in with previously described factors that are associated with better evaluation results, such as grading leniency, environmental factors or teacher attractiveness. Consequently, a higher student satisfaction does not necessarily correlate with a higher quality of education

Conclusion(s):

Provision of chocolate cookies had a significant effect on course evaluation. These findings question the validity of SETs when used to make widespread decisions within the faculty. On the upside, our findings may stimulate new ideas for teachers who seek to improve and control their SETs by manipulating food-related interventions.

01 / Can the Cookie monster guide you to pedagogic stardom? The effect of chocolate cookies on students’ evaluation of teaching