Paired learning has a mathematical advantage over instructor-centric pedagogies. In the time it takes you to engage any two students, every student in the room, regardless of class size, can have a similar and engaged learning experience by working with a peer.
Paired learning strategies are also typically less preparation intensive than other forms of collaborative or cooperative learning like group work or team projects. They are the simplest form of the Teach One Another step in the Learning Model. These strategies are both simple and efficient. The issue is one of effectiveness. Paired instructional methods require structuring and maintaining the quality of the peer interaction such that it creates the same level of learning experienced by those two students interacting exclusively with you. The ability to design and administer quality control mechanisms is the key to effective paired learning. The following principles are useful in this endeavor across many different techniques:
Appropriateness.
Paired students can help one another with both drill- and-practice types of learning and more conceptual based undertakings. In general, paired techniques are more appropriate for reviewing or deepening understanding around material that students are already familiar with.
Pairing the participants.
Creating partnerships where one student is more able than the other and acts as tutor has been shown to help the tutor, but to be of little value to the tutee. Most techniques therefore create pairs based on a similar ability level and on compatibility along several other factors like assertiveness, speed and gender (males tend to dominate mixed gender pairs). In most cases it is counter-productive to allow students to choose their own partners or to base choices solely on student preference. You know best what she or he hopes to accomplish and can assign pairs accordingly. If more information is needed, you can have students submit an academic résumé or another assignment to help with selection criteria.
Training the paired participants.
Students will not tend to have a clear picture of the intended learning outcomes of an activity. They are also, as a rule, less practiced in the art of instruction. It is critical to the success of paired learning activities that you train students both in the outcomes and in the processes they are to follow in achieving those outcomes. Often, this training will involve role-plays or practice situations to acquaint students with the process and to allow them the chance for your feedback.
Manage, but don’t squelch the social aspect.
One of the reasons that paired learning has proven effective is that the social interaction leads to a high level of student engagement. This increased student energy needs to be channeled to instructional ends, but it would be a mistake to attempt paired instruction in its absence; this extra energy is one great benefit to collaborative student working. The added noise and seeming chaos is actually helpful to student learning compared to passive listening, as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.
Support student efforts.
All kinds of support can be offered to students in a paired learning environment: Rubrics, worksheets, process flowcharts, demonstrations, and past examples of successful student work can all be useful in orienting newly formed pairs. A shared master resource with answers or explanations is also beneficial and acts as a pre-specified error correction process.