The ripple effect describes how one action can have consequences on many things. In education, it refers to the positive impact teachers can have on students by addressing disruptive behavior. However, public rebuke can also have negative consequences. The term is used in sociology and economics to describe how one thing can affect many others.
When a person throws a pebble into a pond, they will see a splash and perhaps hear the audible splash of the pebble. He may notice concentric circles rippling from where the pebble hit the water. The thrown pebble could also have other effects: it could startle a nearby duck into leaping out of the water, hit another rock and rebound, or startle a group of fish as it sinks into the pond. The person who throws the stone is connected to the pebble, to the water and, through his actions, to the duck and the fish. He brought about change with a single, simple act. In education, this concept is known as the ripple effect.
A classroom theorist named Jacob Kounin coined the term “ripple effect” in the 1970s to describe the positive effect teachers can have on students. According to Kounin, the effect occurs when a teacher asks a student to stop a distracting or destructive behavior. He observed that when a teacher asked a student to stop behavior in front of the rest of the class, it affected all other students in the class. This commitment has also caused other students who may not be paying close attention to stop distracting behaviors, promoting better classroom control.
Kounin suggested that failure to scold a student for bad behavior in class caused a negative knock-on effect. If a student could misbehave without being publicly told to stop, that gave other students license to misbehave. Through studies of him and his 1970 book Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms, Kounin advocates understanding this in order to achieve a more disciplined classroom.
Just as the pebble thrown into the pond could have unintended negative consequences, such as scaring away the duck and the fish, so can the knock-on effect, if applied recklessly by teachers. Students who have behavioral problems due to persistent learning disabilities or medical conditions can be negatively impacted by having their shortcomings discussed publicly on a frequent basis. A student who is prone to frequent scolding may be socially challenged and marked by other students as different or simply not liked by others. Subsequent studies of Kounin’s work suggest that teachers need to be aware of the possible negative ripples produced by public rebuke.
The term is also used in sociology, economics, and many other fields to discuss how the behavior or occurrence of one thing can have an effect on many things. For example, a January-February 2007 Duke Magazine article discusses the effect of the Iraq War on the American people. The article, “War’s Ripple Effect,” suggested that warfare became more personalized when people actually knew the soldiers who had been killed or wounded. This, in turn, can shape public opinion about the benefits of continued engagement in Iraq.
Economists might use the term to describe the effect of low wages on a housing market, or a depressed housing market on interest rates. Throughout, the ripple effect asserts that actions always have consequences, for better or for worse. No action is without a reaction, and the ripples can, in some cases, be far-reaching.
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