IAE Blog

Most teachers are aware of the concept called wait time. Quoting from http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/1884.shtml:

The concept of "wait-time" as an instructional variable was invented by Mary Budd Rowe (1972). The "wait-time" periods she found–periods of silence that followed teacher questions and students' completed responses–rarely lasted more than 1.5 seconds in typical classrooms. She discovered, however, that when these periods of silence lasted at least 3 seconds, many positive things happened to students' and teachers' behaviors and attitudes…

Many years ago, when I first became a faculty member in the University of Oregon College of Education, I heard about C.P. Snow and his ideas on Two Cultures. I didn’t read his material, but I agreed with his ideas of science versus non-science ways of viewing the world and as areas of scholarship. Although I had been sort of brainwashed by my mathematician father during my childhood to believe that Mathematics was not only the queen of the sciences but the queen of intellectualism, I was gradually coming to accept the idea that in every academic discipline there are a great many very smart people.

Recently I read C.P. Snow’s famous lecture (about 30 pages in length):

A kindergartener I know—let's call him Jack—is a bundle of energy and “smart as a whip.” He is gluten intolerant, and so has to exercise considerable care in his diet. He had some eye problems and wears relatively thick corrective lenses. He had speech problems with several of his sounds, and had the help of a speech therapist to overcome these problems. Our health care system has contributed greatly to his quality of current and future life.

Jack has also had the advantage of very well-educated parents and grandparents. He is getting a very good informal and formal education.