Dylan Wiliam and The Paddle-Pop Sticks Innovation in the Classroom

The Paddle-Pop Sticks Innovation in the Classroom
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Section 1: Evidence-Based Principles Similar to Paddle-Pop Stick
Section 2: How Paddle-Pop Sticks Help Achieve Goals of Student Welfare Policy
Section 3: Pros and Cons of an Alternative to Paddle-Pop Sticks
The Paddle-Pop Sticks Innovation in the Classroom
Evidence-Based Principles of Teaching and Learning Consistent with the Paddle-Pop Stick Innovation
Several evidence-based principles of teaching and learning are consistent with the paddle-pop stick innovation described in “The Classroom Experiment.” The main idea behind the paddle-pop stick innovation is that all students are involved in classroom activities, especially during questioning. Professor Dylan William argues that the rest of the classroom is neglected when teachers, direct questions to only those students who raise their hands (BBC, 2010). To eliminate this problem, Professor Dylan calls for developing a randomization device. In this case, the paddle-pop sticks ensure that students are picked at random such that even those with lower performances can be picked to participate. Such a principle resembles others proposed in scholarly literature, involving random questioning to boost student engagement. Examples include cold-calling, mild pressure, think-pair-share, and random group call.
Many students in the classroom are not inclined to participate voluntarily in the classroom. Cold-calling follows the principle of active learning, which involves engaging students in course material through such strategies as case studies, discussions, and problem-solving. Recent studies have indicated that cold-calling effectively increases the number of learners voluntarily answering questions. Empirical research proves that high cold-calling classes increase voluntary participation over time (Dallimore et al., 2012). A cold call can be defined as a teacher calling on students whose hand is not raised. The main difference between a cold call and a paddle-pop stick is that the latter eliminates the practice of raising hands entirely. This action means paddle-pop sticks in a jar have an equal chance of being selected. On the contrary, cold-calling can involve a teacher ignoring students with raised hands and randomly selecting those without hands. Both approaches mean that the high-performing and underperforming students are involved in classroom activities.
The principle of mild pressure is built around the effects of stressful events on learning and well-being. According to Marzano (2007), stressful events produce hormones that can harm people. However, the right conditions of mild pressure can positively affect learning by enforcing attention on the pressure source. Mild pressure in the classroom can be generated through questioning. The rationale is that if students realize that there is a chance that they will be called to answer a question, their level of attention will rise. Strategies accompanying this principle also include wait time, which emphasizes allowing for ample time after asking a question to raise the learners’ level of awareness. Questioning is the primary focus of the paddle-pop stick innovation. In this case, the innovation is designed to allow all students to have a chance to answer classroom questions. The Classroom Experiment by Professor Dylan revealed that giving all students a chance to answer questions improved their confidence and engagement. Therefore, it can be observed that the paddle-pop stick innovation placed students under adequate pressure to stimulate their attention and engagement.
Mild pressure is also associated with group alerting, which involves keeping all learners on their toes while selecting students to answer questions or respond to a teacher’s instructions. Maintaining group focus in the classroom can be achieved by ensuring that all students can be involved. This focus also involves a random selection of students, meaning that all students in the classroom know they can be called out to recite a reading or answer a question. This knowledge will stimulate the learner to remain alert and be ready to respond should the question be directed at them (Kounin, 1970). The randomness in group alerting is similar to the paddle-pop stick because it keeps the learners guessing who will be picked next. However, this concept of group alertness is accompanied by an extended focus on struggling students. The dimension of accountability ensures that the entire group is engaged even when focusing more on the struggling learners.
Another evidence-based principle similar to the paddle-pop stick is the random group call, an approach that ensures that every student in a group participates in class activities. A study by Knight et al. (2016) reveals that random group call positively affects students’ in-class clicker discussions. The random group call also comprises the accountability dimension introduced by Kounin (1970), which influences how students interact with the rest of the group. Since random group call allows learners to share ideas with the entire class, they benefit from in-class validation. In other words, students perceive in-class validation as a reward for their involvement since they become more comfortable with it. Professor Dylan’s experiment revealed that students reported improved confidence by increasing class participation (BBC, 2010). Group random call ensures that learners who were previously uncomfortable raising hands to answer questions due to a lack of confidence can become more involved when their confidence increases.
Different learning strategies can be implemented to improve student participation, including increasing cooperative learning. One such strategy comes in the form of the think-pair-share technique used to engage students in such activities as class discussions (Aprianti & Ayu, 2020). The technique is designed to promote and support higher-order thinking. It allows the teachers to instruct students to think about a particular topic and pairs students with others to discuss ideas and share them with the class or group. Therefore, student engagement is in the form of peer cooperation. However, the fact that all students participate means they all remain alert and aware that their participation is mandatory. Unlike the paddle-pop stick, the think-pair-share model operates under the principles of cooperative learning. However, the techniq...