Think, Pair, Share: Understanding and Implementation

Who developed the Think, Pair, Share method?

• InnerDrive Team

• Bradley Busch

• Frank Lyman

• Jamie Clark

What is the first step in the Think, Pair, Share method?

• Think

• Discuss

• Pair

• Share

Which of the following is a benefit of using Think, Pair, Share?

• Decreases student participation

• Reduces accountability

• Develops new perspectives

• Increases teacher workload

What is a key aspect of the 'Think' stage?

• Listening to the teacher

• Writing a report

• Reflecting on what they already know

• Immediate sharing with the class

During the 'Pair' stage, what should students be encouraged to do?

• Ignore their partner

• Write down everything their partner says

• Speak over their partner

• Listen attentively to their partner

What is a benefit of sharing your partner's answers instead of your own?

• Increases fear of failure

• Enhances memory

• Reduces memory retention

• Decreases retrieval practice

What does the 'Share' stage help to reduce for reluctant students?

• Confidence

• Understanding

• Fear of failure

• Participation

What is a potential drawback if students rush to the 'Pair' stage?

• Improved retrieval practice

• Better understanding

• Dominance by the loudest student

• Increased participation

What should students focus on during the 'Share' stage?

• The teacher's opinion

• Their partner's main points

• Classroom rules

• Their own ideas

Reorder the following steps of this questioning method that builds classroom engagement and student participation.

• Students form a square (two pairs) and shares ideas)

• Student 'Inks' writes down their thoughts on their own.

• Student thinks on their own in response to a question

• Groups/pairs share answers with the class through direction from teacher

• Students pair up and share their answers

Answer explanation

This slightly adapted method is Think, Ink, Pair, Square and Share. The purpose of this is to get students to write down their thoughts on their own first, to articulate it and commit to the start of the answer. The pair stage allows students to share their answers in a 'safe environment' and build and develop their answers. Depending on the class size, you may want to extend it into a square (two pairs) to further share and develop. The teacher can then ask groups to share their answers with the class and is thus able to get a good idea of what students have learnt so far.