Think-pair-share

Are you new to collaborative teaching or is your group new to collaborative learning?

Try the think-pair-share method and see how easy it is to make your students collaborate! It is a great way to work in pairs, learn from each other, and develop communication and negotiation skills.

Warm up

Collect at least 5 rules with your buddy for effective pairing.


What do you think teachers and educators should keep in mind when they pair their students? What will make their pair-work the most effective?

Learn

This video briefly explains the think-pair-share method.

If you  are new to collaborative teaching, you can learn this method easily and put it into practice tomorrow!

 

 

 

Dive in 1

Try the method yourself!

You should do this activity with another buddy, or with two other buddies.

 

  1. Think alone about the advantages and challenges of the think-pair-share method in your class/group of students.  List at least 2-2 things. (5 minutes)
  2. Now turn to your buddy and share your ideas with each other. List common points, or come up with new ideas together and agree on 1-1 advantage and disadvantage of this method. (10 minutes)
  3. Now go back to the other buddies. Each buddy pair should share their points with the other, while one of you should write down the most important points on a paper or whiteboard. (15 mins)

 

Transfer 1

Information about the group they can do the activity with

age: 12+                     dimensions of the group: 6-30 persons


Information about the context

time: 1h 20’ (depending on the group size);

material needed: papers, pens, the child-friendly Universal Declaration
of Human Rights handouts, whiteboard


Tips in relation to facilitation

Think in advance how to pair your students. Students have to be stimulated
to think, reflect, and discuss.


Tell them at the beginning of the class that they will work in a think-pair-share method and explain to them briefly what that means.

1. Sit in a circle with your students and tell them that they will have to think alone: what are the things they need for their mental and physical development? List at least 3-3 things on their own. (5 mins)


2. Now pair your students. Pairing students who sit closest to each other is usually not stimulating for their thinking and not challenging enough for them. Think in advance about how you can challenge them the best (i.e. pair students with different social backgrounds or those who do not know each other well). (5 mins)


3. The buddies are going to discuss their ideas and make a list of them. Then, they are asked to rank them by importance. (10 mins)

4. Buddies share with the others the three most important ideas they came up with. The
moderator lists and organizes the ideas on the whiteboard (30mins)

5. Hand out the child-friendly version of the UDHR and let every child read out one article.

After reading out each article, see whether you can connect the ideas on the whiteboard with the rights (e.g. notebooks- right to education, nutritious food - right to adequate living standard, etc.) (20 mins)


6. At the end, ask and discuss, who should provide them these basic needs for their mental and physical development? (school, hospital,etc.) (10 mins) 

 

Reflect

Reflect

After trying this method with your group or class, go to your buddy and share your experiences


1. How did your students like it? 
2. What was the most challenging for you as a teacher/educator in this activity?
3. How can this method be better?

Useful resources Further reading, a video and ideas for the think-pair-share
method: https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think-
pair-share
More about think-pair-share method:
https://www.teachervision.com/group-work/think-pair-
share-cooperative-learning-strategy

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