What is it?
Think pair share is a collaborative learning strategy where students are encouraged to share and discuss ideas around a given concept or problem. Students are asked to think individually about the topic and then discuss with a partner next to them. This can be used to gauge conceptual understanding, clarify information and discuss different perspectives.
Why use it?
- Enhances students’ critical thinking and oral communication skills.
- Engages the entire class and provides an opportunity for less verbose students to provide contributions to classroom discussions.
- Allows tutorials to be paused and this can help students reflect on challenging content.
- Encourages peer-to-peer learning.
How do I do it?
- Plan the activity in advance and let the students know how and when you will be incorporating the strategy in the classroom session.
- Pose a question, problem, issue or an idea that seems challenging for the students to discuss or address.
- Think : Get the students to think about the possible answers on their own for about 1-2 minutes.
- Pair : Ask the students to turn to their neighbour/partner and discuss their answers for about 3-4 min
- Share : Now get students or pairs of students to share their thoughts for the entire class.
- Provide feedback to address misconceptions or to indicate whether further investigation is required.
Considerations
You can incorporate a think pair share activity
- at the beginning of the session to help students incorporate prior knowledge into current topics or concepts,
- in the middle of the session to facilitate classroom discussion activity,
- or at the end of the session to reflect on what students have learned and how they will address any difficulties.
