Use Think Time Skillfully to Increase Achievement

Bill Blynt
Jul 12, 2010

Processing new information involves multiple cognitive tasks. In order for students to adequately process information they need a period of uninterrupted time. This instructional strategy was first identified by Mary Budd Rowe (1972) as the concept ‘wait-time' with further research conducted by Robert Stahl and Doyle Casteel (1973). It is this period of uninterrupted silence that provides students with the necessary ‘think time' to complete appropriate information processing tasks before responding to teacher generated questions or respond to another student's response.

Research has consistently shown that the average amount of time provided after a question has been poised by a teacher is less than one second. Increasing this processing time to a minimum of three seconds has tremendous positive impact on a classroom. According to Robert Stahl, "the convention is to use three seconds as the minimum time period because this time length represents a significant break-through (threshold) point. It is after this three second threshold that very positive things begin to happen in a classroom." Increasing think time beyond three seconds is encouraged. The actual amount of time provided needs to be determined by the teacher. The time provided should be adequate to assist nearly every student to complete the cognitive tasks required for that specific question or task.

Studies have shown that increasing think time to between three and seven seconds after asking a higher-level question will produce changes in the classroom including:

  • The length of student response will increase.

  • The correctness of student responses will increase.

  • The number of different students volunteering answers will increase including those deemed less capable.

  • The number of ‘I don't know' answers will decrease.

  • The number of questions asked by students will increase.

  • The number of speculative responses and the amount of student to student interaction will increase.

  • Student achievement tends to increase.

To maximize the benefit of increased think time, it is critical that the teacher provide a clear, well -structured question and any cues students need to construct an answer. Only high quality questions will result in improved student performance. Providing additional time to students to construct high quality responses to imprecise questions will increase confusion, heighten frustration, and lead to no response at all. It is the teacher's role to develop well-thought out questions and then to manage how students will use the time provided to process the information and generate a quality response.

References:
Using ‘Wait-time" and "Think-Time", ERIC Clearinghouse, Robert Stahl, 1994
Your Secret Weapon: Wait Time, Teacher Vision
Wait Time, Best Teaching Practices