How is the waiting time beneficial in studies according to the technique of Pose, Pause, Pounce, and Bounce?

When children are given 3 or more seconds of undisturbed “wait-time” Rowe discovered that the correctness of responses increased, there were less ‘I don’t know’ responses. The impact this had on the students was that the quantity decreased, and the quality of responses increased, and they asked questions that required more complex information processing and higher level thinking on the part of the children. Stahl who referred to ‘wait time’ as ‘thinking time’ drew on Rowe’s research explaining that, it is not that anything less than three seconds of thinking time is bad and more than three is good. It is about the childrens’ threshold. He explained since three seconds is the threshold for most children to develop their responses, it is then “the teacher’s job to manage and guide what occurs prior to and immediately following each period of silence so that the processing that needs to occur is completed.”

Other sources suggest that there is an optimum wait time required to “ensure the smooth flow of the lesson and avoid embarrassing silences, but also allow pupils enough time to think through their answers.” The time that most teachers chose is seven seconds because “waiting much longer than this may lead to other pupils becoming restless.”

Pounce – The child that the teacher selects to pounce on after the thinking period could shape the final outcome of the response, shyness, lack of confidence or bad previous experiences can result in some pupils feeling reluctant to contribute. “A non-evaluative positive atmosphere is important. Pupils are more likely to get involved if they feel a wrong response will not elicit criticism or ridicule from the teacher or fellow pupils.” This atmosphere is essential if all pupils are to have an equal chance to develop their thinking.