One of the easiest ways to implement collaborative learning in your classroom is to start with peer discussion or peer instruction (Mazur 1997, Smith et al., 2009), a type of collaborative learning that involves students working in pairs or small groups to discuss concepts, share perspectives, or think through solutions to problems. Often, these short discussions last one to ten minutes and can be done by asking students to turn to a neighbor or a small group of people sitting near them.

Some variations of this include:

Turn to Your Neighbor

• Ask students to turn to someone sitting beside them in class to discuss a prompt or complete a short activity. It helps to prompt students to explain their thinking and reasoning to each other (Knight et al., 2013).

Catch up and Clarify

• Pause your lecture at a natural breaking point and give students a chance to catch up on their note-taking. Ask them to talk with a classmate about any points that are still unclear. Make time for 2 or 3 questions after students discuss.

Think-Pair-Share

• Ask students to start by thinking or writing individually about a question or topic, then pair up with someone near them to discuss. You can then ask for volunteers to share what they discussed in their pair group and end with your own explanation.
• You can also ask students to predict an outcome based on some sort of change or variation in, for example, a policy, law, chemical, process, or event, first individually, then through peer discussion. Follow up by sharing and explaining the correct outcome. Predictions are an excellent way to pique students’ curiosity and foster motivation for learning.

Classroom Polling with Peer Discussion

• Ask students to select an answer to a polling question, then discuss their reasoning with a neighbor. Then vote again and share the results. Debrief by asking volunteers to share their reasoning or by going through each possible answer and explaining why it is correct or why it might be a common misconception (Smith et al., 2011). 

Continue on to Incorporating Medium-Length Group Activities for In-Class Collaborative Learning →

References

Knight, J. K., Wise, S. B., & Southard, K. M. (2013). Understanding clicker discussions: Student reasoning and the impact of instructional cues. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 12(4), 645–54. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-05-0090.

Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction. Prentice Hall. 

Smith, Michelle. K., William B. Wood, Wendy K. Adams, Carl Wieman, Jenny K. Knight, Nancy Guild, and Tin Tin Su. (2009). Why peer discussion improves student performance on in-class concept questions. Science, 323(5910), 122–24. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165919.

Smith, M. K., Wood, W. B., Krauter, K., Knight, J. K. (2011). Combining peer discussion with instructor explanation increases student learning from in-class concept questions. CBE—Life Sciences Education 10(1): 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-08-0101.