(Kurita)Hello, everyone. (Students)Hello. (Kurita)This is “Interactive Teaching” WEEK 2. This week’s topic is “Active Learning methods”. In this session, we are going to learn about “Think-Pair-Share”. Before getting into the main topic, let me clarify the goal for this week: “Understand the characteristics of various group work methods and acquire their implementation methods”. There are four methods in all. The objective of this session is to be able to explain the characteristics of “Think-Pair-Share” and its implementation methods. I would like you to be able to carry out this method. Here is the table of contents. I will start by explaining what “Think-Pair-Share” is and then the specific methods to carry it out. Then, I will summarize the characteristics and wrap up. This is the agenda. Did you get it? What is “Think-Pair-Share”? The name literally explains the method, so I think you can simply translate it. Hodrigo-san, could you translate it? (Student)Think is to think; pair means two people; and share is to share something with someone. (Kurita)That’s right. Thank you. It is just as he has translated. “Think-Pair-Share” is to think alone, then make pairs, and share, discuss, or exchange ideas with one’s partner. It is a method to guide discussions in particular settings. Japanese people tend to be shy, so even if you tell them to discuss something, they often shut their mouth or look down. But by telling them what to think about in advance, you can have them use those ideas to begin a discussion. “Think-Pair-Share” is a method to create such kind of work flow. Let’s move on to the implementation methods. I’ve just talked about them, but I’d like to explain them briefly. First, the educator provides a problem. Then comes the “Think” step. Students think about the problem individually. The educator presents a problem to the students and gives them some time to think about it individually. The time given depends on the quantity and quality of the problem, but it would be one or two minutes. Then it’s time for the “Pair-Share” step. This figure shows how students talk with each other in pairs. Students exchange their ideas with another person. This is done in pairs, but it can be expanded to larger groups. When done in a group, it is called a buzz session. The ideas can be shared with the entire class, as shown in this figure. It is possible to expand the scale of sharing in this way. Let me summarize. First, you give some time for the students to think by themselves individually, and then form pairs and have them share, discuss, and exchange their ideas. “Think-Pair-Share” is a method to guide students’ Active Learning using these settings. Let’s proceed to the characteristics. As I mentioned before, this is a basic method to have students join a discussion with their own ideas. It can be the basis for various kinds of group work. When you need to carry out complicated group work and allocate time for students to first have their own ideas, it’s very easy to apply. Let’s think about “Think-Pair-Share” from the perspective we used in WEEK 1. We have four here. Think about “Think-Pair-Share” from the perspectives of form, time, structure, and applicability to large lectures. I think you can assume what it would be like explaining from these perspectives. Then Yoshida-san, could you tell us, according to the order I just said? How about form? (Student)Yes, if you can expand the scale to the entire class, the method would extend from pairs to the whole class. (Kurita)Yes, yes. (Student)As for time, it could be up to 15 minutes, I suppose. (Kurita)Yes. (Student)The structure is simple. (Kurita)Yes. (Student)I think it could be done in large lectures, too. (Kurita)Yes. Thank you. I’ve already circled “pair” here in red. You said that it could be done at the class level, but that would be an extensive version; if you talk about “Think-Pair-Share,” it’s done in pairs. As you said, the length of time depends on the quality and quantity of the question. Of course, you can limit the time to about five minutes. You can just give the students questions and have them share their ideas, so the structure is relatively simple. There are eight of you here, but even if the number of students becomes 200, it might be very noisy, but it is possible for the students to form pairs and share their ideas, so it is suitable for large lectures, too. As I also mentioned, I’d like to talk more about the quality and quantity of questions. When you use the “Think-Pair-Share” method, you sometimes come across students who would start chatting right after you give them a question. Even if they are originally serious-minded students who listen to you closely, hey go out of control, especially in large classes, and start talking about irrelevant things. What can you do to deal with this situation from the perspective of giving questions? What kind of questions would be appropriate? I’d like you to think of it through “Think-Pair-Share.” First, think by yourself. Think about the specific questions that would be appropriate to prevent students from going off track, or the specific questions that would encourage chatting. I’ll give you one minute. Did you come up with some ideas? Now, let’s form pairs. Nakamura-san and Teramoto-san, Ozawa-san and Mizukoshi-san, you’ll be pairs. OK. Give it a try. OK, I think all of you are ready. I think you have come up with many kinds of viewpoints. How about you, Teramoto-san? (Student)Yes, I think the question has to be clear to prevent students from chatting. But even though the question may be clear, if it is too difficult, students cannot talk about it, so I think it is important to adjust the difficulty to an appropriate level to keep students motivated. (Kurita)Thank you. You’ve given an explanation that is better than mine. The first point is “setting up clear questions.” If the question itself is ambiguous, students get lost and go off track, like “What are you going to do after this class?” I included this point in the motivation, but I’d better single out the level of difficulty appropriate for the students. If the question is too difficult, students may be unable to do anything; but if it’s too easy, they could get bored and lose motivation. So you need to examine the quality of the question so that it fits the level of the students. Moreover, the content has to be a motivating one. These things are applicable to any kind of group work, but this “Think-Pair-Share” is the basis for various kinds of group work, so keep in mind the points related to setting up questions. Let me wrap up this session. First, “Think-Pair-Share” is a method that has the structure of actively engaging students into discussion by allocating time for them to think individually before exchanging ideas. Setting up clear questions, as I mentioned before, is crucial. Motivating students is also important. This method can be the basis for various kinds of group work. I hope you could master this method. That’s all for this session.
