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 Activities Peer instruction

Peer instruction 

Brief introduction

Peer instruction is a simple activity in which students reflect individually on and answer question, and argument in pairs for their individual answers. Afterwards they answer the questions again and get the right answer by the educator.  

              

Objective

THE PURPOSE OF THE ACTIVITY

Insight into what students know 
  • This activity engages the students’ understanding and gives the educator an insight into their level and learning outcomes.  

Discussion 
  • This activity improves the students’ ability to present arguments and discuss. 

Engaging teaching 
  • This activity creates variation in the teaching and allows students to apply their knowledge. 

A safe space / Activating the introvert students 
  • This activity encourages the quieter students to voice their opinion without doing so in a large group.   

Knowledge building 
  • The students sharpen their fingertip knowledge in the subject area and contextualises selected facts 

Execution

PREPARATION

EDUCATORS PREPARATION
  • The educator prepares one or more questions which are based on the subject material. The questions can be formulated as multiple choice questions and be set up in eg. Mentimeter. 

IN CLASS

PLENUM

(1 minute)
  • The educator asks the class a question. 

INDIVIDUAL

(1 minute)
  • Students think individually about the question and put down their answer.  

  • If Mentimeter or similar technologies are used the studens can submit their answer and the distribution answers can be shown in plenum (this can be deactivated). 

IN PAIRS

(2-3 minutes)
  • Students discuss their answers in pairs and attempt to convince each other that their own answer is correct. 

PLENUM

(2 minutes)
  • The educator asks the same question in plenum and the students announce their answers again.
     
  • If Mentimeter is used it is possible to see the difference from before the discussions in pairs.

PLENUM

(5 minutes)
  • The educatorgoes through the results on a large screen, presenting the correct answer and clearing up any ambiguities.  

REPEAT
  • The process above is repeated for each question.

Worth condering

CONSIDERATIONS

At what point during the teaching session would it make sense to include this activity?  

The activity could be useful:   

  • at the beginning of the session or course to engage the students’ understanding 

  • during or at the end of the session to allow students to reflect on relevant academic content or to vary your teaching style. 

Anonymise the answers 
  • Set the poll to be anonymous so that the students’ answers are not visible in plenum. This can be done in for instance Mentimeter and cannot be done by raising of hands. 

Options to vary the activity

VARIATION OPTIONS

Expand on the answers 
  • Put the question up for discussion and ask the students to expand on their answers in plenum or ask further questions.  

ONLINE

If the activity is to be held online, the educator can either: 

  1. send the students out in pairs after each question or 

  1. ask the students to write down their answers and review them together after the first presentation of the questions in plenary. In that case, it is important that they have access to the questions in writing so that they can remember them in their discussions. After some time, the team meets again in plenum and gets the correct answers. 

Students explain the answer 
  • You can ask if there are any volunteers to explain the correct answer in plenum. 

Overview

Timeframe Short-term activity
When In class
Format Class and pairs
Form of instruction Lecture and classroom teaching
Activity type Acquisition, communication and discussion
How In person, online
Technology Mentimeter, quiz in brightspace

Links and materials

Contact

Please contact the editors at AU Educate if you have any questions about the content of the platform or if you need consultation on your teaching from one of the many skilled professionals at the Centre for Educational Development. 

Revised 24.11.2023
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Sofie Kathleen Lloyd Thomsen