Effects of Question Difficulty and Post-Question WaitTimeon Cognitive Engagement: A PsychophysiologicalAnalysis

摘要

Educational research surrounding teaching methods and accepted practices is continually neededto improve teaching and teacher preparation programs. The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is oftenused by teachers in question development. The effectiveness of these questions are often dependent,not on the question alone, but also in how the question is presented. One component ofimplementing effective questioning is the use of wait-time. Wait-time is the amount of time a teacherwaits for a student response after having posed a question. Experts have recommended wait timesranging from three and five seconds in length. The purpose of this study was to utilize apsychophysiological measure of cognitive resource allocation (heart rate) to provide evidence ofthe magnitude and duration of cognitive engagement elicited after posing questions and todetermine an appropriate amount of post-question wait-time needed by undergraduate agriculturaleducation students. Study results suggest that students were cognitively engaged for two to threeseconds during the wait-time that followed a question. Additionally, students re-engagedcognitively after eight seconds of wait-time. The results of this study provide unique evidence inassisting teachers with effectively employing wait-time strategies.