Log In

October 13, 2021 • 5 min

Getting the “Think-Pair-Share”

Technique Right

Kate Jones, Dylan Wiliam

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
Don’t Skimp on the “Think”

When Pairing, Listen

When Sharing, Pause

A Different Way to Share

The Bottom Line

Most educators are familiar with Think-Pair-Share, a popular

technique used to ask questions in class and promote peer
collaboration and communication. Yet, as with all classroom practices,
it can be executed in a number of ways—some more successful than
others.

We highly encourage weaving Think-Pair-Share into your regular

classroom routine for all ages. But to do it well, keep the following in
mind.

i i
Don’t Skimp on the “Think”

One of the biggest challenges to implementing Think-Pair-Share is

making sure to not skimp on think. When you pose a question to your

class, the first impulse for students will be to turn and talk to a peer,
skipping the thinking stage. Ensuring that ample think time is
provided before the pair and share steps take place can prevent this
impulse.

During thinking time, students can write down their initial responses
and engage in necessary retrieval practice—recalling information from
long-term memory without any notes or support to make the memory
stronger and more accessible in the future. But retrieval practice
requires each student to recall information individually. If students are
asked to recall information in pairs or groups, some students will miss
out on the chance to strengthen their memory of the material. It can
also be difficult to gauge whether an individual student recalled the
information correctly themselves or is relaying something said by a
peer.

Think time prepares students so that when they do talk to their

partner, they have something to share, potentially adding another
factor: think, pair, compare, and share.

When Pairing, Listen

Make certain that during the pair and share stages, students listen
attentively to their talk partners. Students can be tagged “A” and “B”
(for example, by the alphabetical order of their names) so that when
the teacher tells the “A” students to talk, “B” students listen and then
switch. A particularly powerful way of making students accountable
for listening to their peers is to make it clear that they are likely to be

asked to report to the class what their partner said (“Emily, can you tell
us what Sarah told you?”).

Teachers should actively support student listening, as it’s

often an underrated element of Think-Pair-Share.

The response from the peer partner during the pair discussion might
prompt students to add further points that they didn’t include in their
original answer or add depth to existing points. Pair time also provides
students with a safe space to discover if their answers and thoughts
align with their partner's or to discuss any questions they may have.
This can be a powerful method for activating students as learning
resources for one another in the classroom. And it provides the chance
for students to rehearse the vocabulary that they will use in reporting
back to the class.
Listening requires effort, attention, and time. Teachers should actively
support student listening, as it’s often an underrated element of Think-

Pair-Share. In order to learn from each other, students have to listen to

each other.

When Sharing, Pause

After the pair discussions have taken place, students share their
thinking with the rest of the class. To further boost student confidence
before whole-class discussion, award praise to students when walking
around the classroom listening to conversations and individual
responses, so students feel excited later to share with the whole class.
Although overpraising students is ineffective, confirming to students
that what they have said is worth sharing with the class is likely to
make students more willing to share their ideas, and boost their
confidence.

To start group discussion, the teacher can “cold call,” a term coined by
Doug Lemov, for picking a student at random to answer a question. By
this point, the students will have had the chance to recall information
independently and rehearse their answer with their partner, making
them more likely to be ready for wider discussion.

The teacher can then provide "response time"—at least several seconds
—for students to listen and reflect on what others have said. This
response time allows for further thinking, before students share their
reactions, responses, and elaborations.
After an appropriate interval, a particularly useful technique is “Add.
Build. Challenge.” or “ABC” for short. Is there anything else that could

be added? Can you build on that answer? Does anyone want to challenge
the answer, for example, by providing an alternative response? 

A Different Way to Share

A particularly powerful way to do Think-Pair-Share is to use mini dry-

erase boards. During the think stage, students write down what they
can recall or jot down some initial thoughts. During the pair stage,
students can add or remove thoughts from their board. Then, in the
share stage, students hold up their boards to share what they wrote
with the class. Dry-erase boards work best when student responses are
short (about four words on each board), so they can be easily read.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, Think-Pair-Share is like all other aspects of teaching, in

that the key is careful planning. While a very useful technique, Think-
Pair-Share takes more time than traditional classroom questioning, so
to make sure that this time is well spent, it is important that the
questions posed to students are well-designed and carefully
considered. They must be communicated so that students fully
understand what is being asked and that the question homes in on key
points linked to the lesson.

By making sure that the teacher asks “questions worth thinking

By making sure that the teacher asks questions worth thinking
about,” Think-Pair-Share increases engagement, improves learning,
and provides the teacher with actionable evidence about next steps—a
uniquely powerful combination.

Kate Jones is a teacher of history in Abu Dhabi, United Arab

Emirates and the author of Love to Teach: Research and
Resources for every classroom, the Retrieval Practice collection
and Five Formative Assessment Strategies In Action (John Catt…

Learn More

Dylan Wiliam is Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at

UCL Institute of Education. He is the author of many books,
including Creating the Schools Our Children Need (Learning
Sciences International, 2018).
…

Learn More
ASCD is dedicated to professional growth and well-being.

Let's put your vision into action.

Discover our Professional Learning Services

ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning,

teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe,
engaged, supported, and challenged.

About ASCD
Who we are
Career opportunities
Government relations
News & Media
Contact

Get Involved

Membership
Affiliates
Emerging Leaders
Communities
Write for ASCD

Partner with Us

Advertisers
Distributors
Event Sponsors
Exhibitors
Social Impact

Sign up for our newsletters

Questions?
Check out our FAQ

Privacy Policy Terms of Use Governance

© 2022 ASCD. All Rights Reserved.