Think, pair, share

Think, Pair, Share is a way of providing increased wait time so that students have time to think before they speak or write. It also provides opportunities for repetition and for practising and polishing language. This strategy is very easy to use and takes no preparation and it can be used across all learning areas.

The students first work individually writing down their ideas. Next they share their ideas with a partner and then with a larger group or whole class. It is important that students need to be able to share their partner’s ideas as well as their own.

The 'wait or think' time that is part of Think, Pair, Share has been demonstrated to be a powerful factor in improving student responses to questions.

Watch this video to see Think, pair, share being used in a year 5–6 visual arts class

Teaching and learning sequence planning examples:

Primary level:

• Magnetism – Science, year 5–6
• Siapo – Visual Arts, year 5–6
• Making lanterns –Technology, year 7–8
• Prime Search – Maths, year 5–8

Secondary level:

• Marine mammals, – ESOL Unit Standard 17144, Writing information text, level 2
• Understand spoken information in a range of contexts – ESOL Unit Standard 15009, Oral language, level 3

Published on: 18 Dec 2017