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Think-Pair-Share

A 4-frame comic demonstrating think-pair-share, with the questio posed in frame 1 ("Everyone's ehard that clouds act like a blanket. Is that an accurate analogy? Why or why not") and the following 3 frames representing think, pair, and share.

The cooperative learning strategy Think-Pair-Share was designed to increase students’ critical thinking skills and encourage engagement with peers and lesson content. Think-Pair-Share achieves this by engaging students in a social and constructivist exploration of course concepts. To implement the Think-Pair-Share model, an instructor first poses a question or challenge to the class. Learners then have several minutes to work independently to gather their thoughts or to identify a solution (Think). After several minutes have passed, learners share possible solutions with a peer and the pair then works together to hone their idea or solution (Pair). The pairs are then asked to share their ideas or solutions with the rest of the class (Share). If time allows, further whole-class discussion can continue and/or the instructor can clarify any misconceptions. 

In addition to promoting engagement with fellow students and with the content, this activity can help instructors identify weak spots in students’ understanding. 

A variation of Think-Pair-Share is Think-Pair-Square, where a team discussion among two pairs replaces the Share portion of the activity.

An additional variation is a Snowball. First students are in pairs, then squares, then groups of 8, then 16, and so forth until the final grouping is the whole class. When facilitating a snowball, it can be helpful to have groups compare/contrast or build consensus when they come together.

If you’ve ever participated in, facilitated, or observed a think-pair-share activity, you probably can recall a loud buzz in the room during the “pair” segment, as students talk with one another about their ideas. But then when the instructor asks students to share out, students are reluctant to speak up.

A simple strategy to encourage students to share is to drop in on pairs as they’re talking. When you hear something that you think will really help the whole group, give that pair a head’s up that you’d like them to share with the whole class (or that you’ll call on them to share). This primes students to be ready to talk and gives them something concrete to share.

The Think-Pair-Share strategy works best when students can interact with one another in real-time and space, but it can be done asynchronously as well. Some asynchronous ideas include:  

  • Share a Microsoft Word Doc or online collaborative whiteboard and ask students to spend 3 minutes considering the question/challenge. Then ask them to post their response to the collaborative board in 30-50 words. Assign a few students each week to write summaries to share with the class. 
  • Share the same directions but have people post in small group discussion boards via text or with 1-minute video recordings. Assign a few students each week to write summaries to share with the class. 
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This work is adapted from the original article licensed by the Penn State University under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License by the Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation (CTLI, Vermont State University).

Changes include an additional variation and the segment on encouraging students to share.