Think-Pair Share
Active
Learning
Value Based
Learning
Collaboration
Self Directed
Learning
What Is This?
This method provides students the time and structure for thinking about a given topic or question. It enables them to formulate individual thoughts and share them with a peer and the class. Think-Pair-Share builds oral communication skills while providing an opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student. Students’ sense of involvement in classroom learning increases when actively engaging in conversation. Think-Pair-Share also helps students develop the ability to draw conclusions through considering other points of view.
How To Use It?
Think: Begin with a specific question, provide students with time to individually think about an answer and document their responses on their own. (1-3 min)
Pair: Pair students. When pairing, pay attention to student strengths and their personalities. Ask the students to share and discuss what they came up with. You can provide questions for the students to ask one another. (5-15 min)
Share: For this part, come back together as a class and have a whole class discussion. You can either choose to have one person from each pair, share with the class, or conduct an open discussion. Students can also share with the class what their partner has said.
When To Use?
Teachers can use the think-pair-share strategy at a number of learning junctions:
- Before introducing a new topic to assess prior knowledge.
- When presenting students with thought provoking questions, dilemmas or discussion.
- After reading a text or watching a film to encourage opinion formation and critical thinking.
- Before students begin an assignment, in order to help them gather ideas.
How To Assess?
Think-Pair-Share can be used as a formative assessment tool; as students discuss their ideas, the teacher can circulate and listen to the conversations while using a prepared rubric for assessing both knowledge and dialogue. Teachers can also provide students with a learning task to be completed while sharing ideas in pairs.
Think-Pair Share
Flow
01 Read More
Describe the method to students. Explain that they will now: (A) think individually (B) pair and discuss with a partner (C) share ideas with the rest of the class.
02 Read More
Present a question about the text or concept students will be discussing.
03 Read More
Allow students to « think » about their own ideas for a set amount of time (usually 1-3 minutes).
04 Read More
Pair students. Choose to assign pairs or let students pick their own partner.
05 Read More
Let pairs share thoughts and ideas. Guide pairs to ask each other questions (2-5 minutes).
06 Read More
Allow pairs to choose, or instruct them how to present to the rest of the class.
Previous
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Hang A Visual Flow In The Classroom
Download
Think-Pair-Share Podcast
Listen to the podcast
Podcast Worksheet
Podcast in PDF format
Printable Products
Think-Pair-Share – Student worksheet – Steps in Steps in performing the method
This worksheet is for the student to write down the various stages of the practice. Please note – the student must discuss the topics with a partner, or to share them with the whole group, and then write down his insights from these discussions. This tool can also be used by the teacher for evaluation.
Think-Pair-Share – Student worksheet
This is a worksheet for the student to fill in the various stages of the practice in writing. At each stage he will record the learning process – on his own, with a partner, or following the group discussion. This tool can also be used by the teacher for evaluation. It is a good idea to tell the students in advance that the page will be collected by the teacher.
Inspirational Links
Using Think-Pair-Share in the Classroom
How to introduce Think, Pair, Share
Online Teaching Adaptation: Think-Pair-Share
