Peer Tutoring

Peer tutoring is a teaching strategy wherein students are paired together to practice
academic skills and master content. Teachers may use peer tutoring to help
accommodate a classroom full of diverse students who need more individualized
attention. There are many benefits and challenges of peer tutoring teachers should
consider before implementing such a program in their classrooms.

Benefits

Research literature shows peer tutoring can be a highly effective teaching method in the
classroom. Let's look at some of the benefits of peer tutoring:

 Peer tutoring allows for higher rates of student response and feedback, which
results in better academic achievement.
 Peer tutoring creates more opportunities for students to practice specific skills,
which leads to better retention.
 The student tutor gains a deeper understanding of a topic by teaching it to
another student.
 Students involved in peer tutoring have shown more positive attitudes toward
learning and develop self-confidence.
 Peer tutoring often helps students build relationships and practice appropriate
social interaction.

Challenges

Although peer tutoring is strongly supported by research, there are some challenges
that should be noted as teachers consider how this might work in their schools. As such,
let's look at some of the challenges of peer tutoring:

 Schools and teachers must invest a lot of time to plan and maintain effective
programs.
  Parents and students often need to be educated and convinced of the benefits of
peer tutoring in order to get their participation.
 In some partnerships, the student tutor may not turn out to be an effective
teacher, so the student being tutored may miss out on good instruction.

Now that we've weighed the pros and cons of peer tutoring, let's explore a few of the
different ways peer tutoring may be implemented.

THINK-PAIR-SHARE OVERVIEW

Think-Pair-Share is a short activity designed to engage students in thoughtful

consideration of a topic, and may serve effectively as a warm-up to instruction and
class discussion on new course material.

First, students individually think for a few minutes about a question posed by the
instructor, then get together for a short period in groups of two (pair) to four students
to discuss their thoughts, and one or more groups share the results of their
discussion with the class. In addition to engaging with course content, students can
reflect before speaking, and share their ideas in a low-risk situation before
participating in full class discussion. Thus, both the quality of class discussion and
students’ comfort in contributing to class discussion may improve.

Think-Pair-Share also allows instructors to assess students’ initial knowledge and to

modify instruction to bolster understanding and clear up misconceptions. Developed
for use in class, this technique is just beginning to be adapted and experimented with
in the online environment.