Think-Pair-Share
A learning tool teachers can use to help students think independently, pair up and discuss with a classmate or in small groups, and share their knowledge with the class.
Overview
This collaborative discussion strategy gives students the opportunity to respond to questions in verbal or written form before engaging in meaningful conversation with other students. Asking students to write and discuss ideas with a partner before sharing with the larger group builds confidence, encourages greater participation, and results in more thoughtful discussions.
Think-Pair-Share has an effect size of 0.8!
When Math Happens
Click on this video to watch think-pair-share in action in math class!
The procedure
Think:
In the first phase of think pair share, the teacher asks a question, poses a problem or gives a task to the class. Learners are then given a set amount of time during which they are expected to quietly and independently think about or write their answer.
Questions should require engagement with higher order learning skills of evaluation, analysis or synthesis.
The amount of time learners should be given should be related to the difficulty of the question being asked.
Students will require varying amounts of time- students who finish early can be asked to provide a justification for why they feel their answer is correct.
If there are any concerns about students staying engaged during the think time, the teacher can ask students to write their answers. (Ink-Pair-Share)
Pair:
During the second phase of the activity, students pair up or split into small groups to discuss and compare their thoughts.
During this phase students can be instructed to pick the best answer, generate as many possible responses as possible, or come to a consensus, depending on the question asked.
Groups are ideally heterogenous, with a mix of learning abilities
As in the think phase attention should be paid to the amount of time given for discussion: too much time and students will become bored and get off task, too little time and they will become frustrated.
Observing the groups during the discussion phase can help the teacher get a sense of the appropriate amount of time required for most groups to produce an answer to the question.
Share:
In the final phase of the think-pair-share activity students rejoin the large group and are asked to share their responses with the class. •
This allows students the opportunity to discuss their answers with a small group of peers, rehearse their answers, and get buy in from their group members prior to being asked to share with the larger class.
Sharing can be done by cold calling, asking for volunteers, requesting diverse responses, going around the room, etc.
The teacher can also ask the groups to write their responses and collect these at the end of class.
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