WAIT TIME=THINKING TIME

According to educator and researcher Robert Stahl, information processing involves multiple cognitive tasks that take time. Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information; reflect on what has been said, observed, or done; and consider what their personal responses will be.
Logical, right? Then why is it that the period of silence that follows a teacher's question and a student's completed response is on average between 0.7 and 1.4 seconds???

Stahl and fellow researcher M. Rowe suggest a minimum time of 3 seconds. They discovered that when these periods of silence lasted at least 3 seconds, many positive things happened to students' and teachers' behaviors and attitudes.

Positive outcomes that they noted include:
The length and correctness of their responses increase.
The number of their "I don't know" and no answer responses decreases.
The number of volunteered, appropriate answers by larger numbers of students greatly increases.
The scores of students on academic achievement tests tend to increase
The number of student-student interactions increases
The number of questions posed by students increases

Good Outcomes in teacher behavior were also noted:

Their questioning strategies tend to be more varied and flexible.
They decrease the quantity and increase the quality and variety of their questions.
They ask additional questions that require more complex information processing and higher-level thinking on the part of students.


Some important categories of wait time (The first 2 being the most common):
(1) Post-Teacher Question Wait-Time.
This type of wait time will occur when a period of 3 or more seconds or uninterrupted silence follows a teacher's question. (do remember-too long of a wait time may lead to confusion or frustration.)
(2) Within-Student's Response Pause-Time.
Within-student's response pause-time occurs when a student pauses during his/her response or explanation for up to or more than 3 seconds , before continuing his/her answer. Normally what occurs is that the teacher interrupts the student's response or partial thought after .05 seconds.
(3) Post-Student's Response Wait-Time.
This type of wait time occurs after a students has responded and other students have been given time to process the information they have just received. They also use this 3 second lead time to decide what it is they want to say, if anything, in response to what they have just heard. They can then consider volunteering their comments and answers.
(4) Student Pause-Time.
Student pause-time occurs when students pause or hesitate during a self-initiated question, comment, or statement for 3 or more seconds before finishing their statements.
(5) Teacher Pause-Time.
Teacher pause-time, which can occurs at a variety of places during a class period, is characterized by a 3 or more second period of time that teachers deliberately take to consider what just took place, what the present situation is, and what their next statements or behaviors could and should be.
(6) Within-Teacher Presentation Pause-Time.
Within-teacher presentation pause-time occurs during lecture presentations, when teachers deliberately stop the flow of information and give students 3 or more seconds of uninterrupted silence to process the just-presented information. These pauses allow students time to process the information they have received, with no request for them to follow up with a response. It allows them to process a "small chunk" of information.


JUST A THOUGHT: Let your students know that you plan to give them this "wait time" so they know that they have time to think (process information) about your question before answering.

There are not any good reasons I can think of to NOT employ "wait time" in the classroom. Consistently choosing to wait 3-5 seconds in your lessons can significantly improve the teaching and learning that occurs in your classroom.