Think-Pair-Share – Engagement in Engineering Education

To encourage student participation in discussions and develop a meaningful understanding of class material in both small and large groups.

Think-Pair-Share (TPS) is an easy-to-implement strategy that encourages students to share their ideas with peers.

active learning, team-based learning, collaborative problem solving, peer learning, problem-based learning

TPS activities can be performed over a short duration and do not require much preparation time.
TPS encourages students to engage without the risk of stage fright that comes from answering questions in front of the class. Students who have little intrinsic interest in the material are motivated personal interaction.
TPS encourages students to think first and then share their ideas with their peers in order to improve and verify their critical thinking process. Participating in the activity also allows them to learn from a variety of viewpoints.
TPS is an active learning technique that can assist instructors in strengthening students’ understanding organically. The technique inspires students to think critically about what they are doing while also allowing instructors to observe and gain valuable insight toward students’ misconceptions.

TPS is a cooperative learning method that gets its name from its three stages of student action, with an emphasis on what students are to be doing at each of those stages. A question, prompt, or observation should elicit critical thinking.
First, the instructor provokes students’ thinking with a question, prompt, or observation. The students should take a few minutes just to THINK about the question individually.
Second, students PAIR up with a (or more than two) partner(s) to discuss the answer each of them came up with. They share, compare their notes, and choose the best, most compelling, or applicable answer to the prompt.
After a few minutes of talking in pairs, the instructor invites pairs to SHARE their thoughts with the rest of the class.