Wait-Time and Rewards as Instructional Variables: Their Influence on Language, Logic, and Fate Control.

TITLE: WAIT-TIME AND REWARDS AS INSTRUCTIONAL VARIABTRS: THEIR INFLUENCE ON LANGUAGE, LOGIC, AND FATE CONTROL. AUTHOR: ADDRESS Mary Budd Rowe Teachers College Columbia University New York City, New York 10027 (212) 870 4042 MEETING: National Association for Research in Science Teaching April 1972 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEA EPUCATION & WELFAR OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN DUCFD EXACTLY AS RECEiVEr THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATIOI INATINO IT POINTS OF VIEW 0 IONS STATED DO NOT NECES REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE C CATION POSITION OR POLICY ABSTRACT: The paper summarizes work of five years on influence of a variable called teacher wait-time on development of language and logic in children taking part in elementary science programs. Analysis of over 300 tape recordings showed mean wait-time to be on the order of one second. After a teacher asks a question students must begin a response within an average time of one second. If they do not the teacher repeats, rephrases or asks a different question or calls on others. A second potential wait-time is involved. When a student makes a response, the teacher reacts or asks another question within an average time of 0.9 seconds. The paper summarizes work of five years on influence of a variable called teacher wait-time on development of language and logic in children taking part in elementary science programs. Analysis of over 300 tape recordings showed mean wait-time to be on the order of one second. After a teacher asks a question students must begin a response within an average time of one second. If they do not the teacher repeats, rephrases or asks a different question or calls on others. A second potential wait-time is involved. When a student makes a response, the teacher reacts or asks another question within an average time of 0.9 seconds. When mean wait-times of three to five seconds are achieved through training, analysis of more than 900 tapes shows changed values on nine student variables: 1. The length of responses increases. 2. The number of unsolicited but appropriate responses increases. 3. Failures to respond decrease. 4. Confidence as reflected in decrease of inflected responses increases. 5. Incidence of speculative responses increases. 6. Incidence of child-child ccmparisons of data increases. 7. Incidence of evidenceinference statements increases. 8. The frequency of student questions increases. 9. Incidence of responses from students rated by teachers as relatively slow increases. Servo-chart plots of recordings show that students discussing science phenomena tend to speak in bursts with intervals of three to five seconds between bursts being fairly common. The average post-student response wait-time of 0.9 seconds apparently intervenes between bursts to prevent completion of a thought. Over time a classroom on the prolonged wiat-time schedule takes on other properties. Three teacher variables change: 1. Response flexibility scores increase: 2. Teacher questioning pattern becomes more variable: 3. There is some indication that teacher expectations for performance of students rated as relatively slow improves. A model which involves the relation of wait-time and reward as input variables to language, logic, and fate control as complex outcome variables is discussed.