Think/Pair/Share

• To create an opportunity for students to listen to and practice comments with a peer,
• To increase students’ willingness and readiness to speak in a larger group,
• To improve the quality of students’ contributions,
• To develop a sense of belonging in a large lecture class, or
• To engage students in a warm-up activity before a whole-class discussion.

• A smartphone or laptop.

The following workflow is meant as guidance for how you can facilitate a Think/Pair/Share learning activity within a large lecture room.

Pre-Class

• Identify an engaging question or problem that has many potential responses. Try responding to the question yourself. 
• Decide how you are going to present the question (e.g., verbally, worksheet, presentation slide, or whiteboard) and how or if students will report the results to the whole class.
• Create an anonymous Top Hat question for students to submit their results.

In-Class

• Pose the prepared question to the class.
• Share the intended purpose of this activity and the amount of time they will have to complete it. Remind students that this activity is ungraded, but should help them apply concepts covered through the lecture.
• Gives students time to think and often write about the question and devise individual responses.
• Student A is asked to share his/her responses with Student B. Student B shares his/her ideas with Student A. If the two students disagree, they clarify their positions so they are ready to explain their differences.
• Each pair of students creates a joint response by building on each other’s ideas.
• Students submit their shared responses via a Top Hat question.
• The instructor reviews the results and facilitates a discussion that draws upon the conclusions from the activity.
• Provide support for perspectives that are shared.

Post-Class

• The teaching assistant reviews the outcomes of the activity and posts a response in Canvas or shares results at the next class session.

• None

• Top Hat KnowledgeBase Documentation
• Top Hat Service Page
• Creating a Classroom Backchannel for Student Questions Using Top Hat

Example 1

An Inquiry to the Natural World instructor decides to use the Think/Pair/Share technique to begin a lecture session He felt that it would help students draw on their prior knowledge, focus their attention, and maintain interest in the lecture. He starts the lecture session by presenting a slide with the question "What is matter?" He asks each student to take a moment and think about their response to the question. After a minute, he suggests students turn to their neighbor and share their response and construct a shared response.  He takes a few minutes to have a few pairs share their responses, then starts his lecture taking those responses into account (Barkley 294).

Example 2

In the African Art and the Diaspora course, the instructor lectures on themes such as abundance, status, royalty, and prestige. To provide an engaging learning exercise as a break from her lectures, she uses a modified form of Think/Pair/Share. She projects an image on the screen, such as a pottery bowl, and asks students to think about what the object conveys about the lecture themes. She thus used the object as a tool to help students think about larger social and political issues. She then asked students to partner with another student sitting next to them to share their ideas. Afterward, several pairs shared their thoughts with the full class, she ended the exercise with a brief discussion before her closing lecture remarks (Barkley 294).

Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2018). Interactive lecturing: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons, 293-296.