A Method to Increase Student Comprehension with Illusions

Illusions or magic in the classroom is a growing trend with educators at all levels, but especially at the K-12 level. A number of websites are popping up that facilitate this movement. Some educators use illusions for pure entertainment while others use them to make a point about the material being discussed. The question that is often asked is, does the use of illusions add value to the student’s learning? Additionally, there is little guidance on the proper use of illusions. We will go on to provide principles and guidance for the use of illusions in the classroom. This paper will lay out the research framework we will use to attempt to answer the question can we achieve higher comprehension levels through measuring student recall of important points from lectures that were reinforced with an illusion and placed on the midterm exam or quiz. We will also measure student end of course satisfaction and attendance rates. Measurements were performed in two undergraduate business courses over two semesters. One semester without illusions and the next semester with the use of illusions introduced.