EVALUATION OF THINK PAIR SHARE

It is important that a teacher of any subject evaluate the strategy or strategies used in the classroom as to determine if they helped in achieving the objectives of the lesson. As a cooperative learning strategy, Think Pair Share was designed to provide students with ‘food for thought’ and has traits which prove beneficial to both the students and the teacher in the classroom.

In Think Pair Share there is an element of wait time, a phrase coined by Groisser (1964). With wait time, students have an opportunity to carefully think out their responses to the questions provided, which improves the quality and quantity  of their response (Rowe 1974) .In this student centered strategy students are also provided with the opportunity to think aloud their responses with another student before they make their presentations to the class. In this manner, students’ peers can help them clarify their ideas or add further input, resulting in enhanced discussions in the classroom. Students also retain concepts better when they discuss them.

In addition to this benefit, students also tend to feel more comfortable with their ideas when aware of the thoughts of their peers. Think Pair Share improves student and student interaction and further boosts their self esteem and morale.

Students engaged in the Think Pair Share strategy spend more time on task, which reduces the eventualities of classroom management problems for the teacher. Another benefit for the teacher is that Think Pair Share can easily be incorporated in the Literature lesson since there is no specific material needed.

In conclusion, Think Pair Share allows students to share their ideas in a non threatening atmosphere, where no student is made to feel that his answer is wrong or stupid. In the Literature classroom, all students should be made to feel that their contributions are important to the overall discussion.

Think Pair Share at a glance

P I G S F

Positive interdependence

The students are able to learn from each other

Individual accountability

Students are accountable to each other for sharing ideas. The student may also be required to share their partner’s ideas to another pair or whole group.

Equal participation

Each student within the group has an equal opportunity to share. It is possible that one student may try to dominate. The teacher can check this does not happen.

Simultaneous interaction

High degree of interaction. At any one moment all of the students will be actively engaged in purposeful speaking and listening.

References

http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/think/ (retrieved 18^th April 2011)

http://www.eazhull.org.uk/nlc/think,_pair,_share.htm (retrieved 18^th April 2011)