7/2/2017 Turn-to-Your-Neighbor

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TurntoYourNeighbor
FA Q TUTORIALS E S S AY S GLOSSARY LINKS T I E E E VA L U AT I O N & R E S E A R C H

TurntoYourNeighbor

OverviewWhythis?
Ifyouhavelittleornoexperienceteachingwithstudentactiveapproaches,wesuggestthatyoustartwith
"turntoyourneighbor".(Fordefinitions,selecthighlightedterm,readtheinformationintheTeaching
section,andreturn).Thistechniquecanbeusedinclassesofallsizes,atvariouspointsduringyourlecture,
andonceormoretimeseachclass.

What'sthepurpose?
Theideaistogiveyourstudentsaquestion,puzzle,orproblemwhichtheydiscusswithstudentssitting
aroundthemorwithapartner."Turntoyourneighbor"isoftenusedasasetupforanallclass
discussion.

Caveat:
Itisveryimportantthatthestudentsseethevalueofdoingthiscollaborativeworkbecausethequestion
ischallenging,forinstance,and"twoheadsarebetterthanone".Therefore,oneoftherealchallengesin
usingthisapproachisdevelopingthequestions.

Needaquestionorproblem?
TIEEIssuesgiveyouquestion/problemsandsoyoucanfocusonpracticingusing"turntoyourneighbor".
Forexample,thismethodissuggestedforData#4intheDisturbanceIssuewhereyoucanseehowwe
recommendusingit.

Practice,practice,practice:
Studentactiveteachingtakesalotoftime(andpatience)ifitwaseasytodo,morefacultywouldbe
teachingthisway!So,pickoneortwoapproachesthatyouthinkwillworkforyou,usethemrepeatedly,get
feedbackfromyourstudents,modifywhatyouaredoing,andtryitagain.Thenyoucantryother
approaches.

Leadingdiscussions:
Fortips,seeTeachingResources:Essay:GuidedDiscussions.

TipsonUsing"TurntoYourNeighbor"(or"ThinkPairShare")

TheQuestionorProblem
Pickaquestionthatwilltakeafewminutesforyourstudentstodiscusswithoneanother."Turntoyour
neighbor"questionscanbeusedasasetupforatopicsuchastopiquestudents'interest.Forinstance,
tointereststudentsinintroducedspeciesyoucouldlist3commonintroducedU.S.birds(e.g.house
sparrow)andonenativebirdandaskthemtodecidewhichoneisthenative.

Logistics:largeclass
Ifyouareteachingalargeclassinalecturehall,howyouhandlethelogisticalaspectsofstudentactive
teachingisespeciallyimportant.Thelastthingyouwantischaosandwastedtime!

Giveyourstudentsverycleardirectionsaboutwhatyouwantthemtodo.Forinstance,tellthem1)to
discusstheprojectedquestion(overheadorcomputer)withtheirneighborsfor3minutesanddecide
onananswerand2)thatyouwillthenleadawholeclassdiscussionandwillrandomlycallonpeople
foranswers.

Theroomgetsverynoisy(whichisgood!)whenstudentstalktoteachotheryoucanuseabellor
switchthelightsonandofftogettheclass'sattentionwhenyouwanttostartthediscussion.

Logistics:smallerclass

Youhavethefreedominasmallclasstousethistechniquemorespontaneously.Forexample,ifyou
areexplaininganideaandthinkthestudentsjustaren't"gettingit",askthemtobrieflydiscussthe
ideawiththeirneighborsandreturnwithquestions.
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7/2/2017 Turn-to-Your-Neighbor
Ifyouposeachallengingquestion/problem,givestudentsenoughtimetodiscussit.Youcancruise
theroomandgiveclarifyingcomments.Atfirst,studentswillwantyoutogivethemtheanswer
don't!Answerbackwithanotherquestionthatheadsthemintherightdirection.(IfyouhaveT.A.s,
teachthemhowtodothis).

Thisisaflexibleapproachthatcanbeusedinmanywayse.g.atthebeginningofanewtopic,to
summarizewhatyoujustexplained,togooverafigureinthetext,andsoon.Beimaginativeand
thinkhowthemethodcanbestserveyourneeds.

Resources
IfyouareunfamilurewithatermormethodreferencedinTIEEyouwillfinditdefinedintheTeaching
Resources:GLOSSARY.

ThinkPairShare

http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/edis771/notes/THNKPRSH.html

http://clte.asu.edu/active/usingtps.pdf

http://www.gdrc.org/kmgmt/clearn/thinkpairshare.html

http://www.eazhull.org.uk/nlc/think,_pair,_share.htm

www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/CL1/CL/doingcl/thinkps.htm

CollaborativeLearning

NationalInstituteforScienceEducation
(http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/CL1/CL/doingcl/thinkps.htm)

Penn,StateCenterforCollaborativeLearning
(www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/pdf/Collaborative_Learning_bibliography.pdf)

NorthCentralRegionalLibrary
(http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/rpl_esys/collab.htm)

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2006EcologicalSocietyofAmericaTIEE
TeachingIssuesandExperimentsinEcology(TIEE)isaprojectoftheEducationandHumanResourcesCommitteeoftheEcological
SocietyofAmerica.Thispagewasoriginallypublishedon15January2004andwaslastrevised28May2006.

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