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Research Inform Assignment

Elizabeth Busch

ED 632-02

February 13th, 2024

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In my literature review, I presented the question “Does incorporating the ‘think pair

share’ strategy increase higher-order thinking and participation in high school math classes?” I

chose to research this topic because I have been looking for tools to use to increase my students’

participation and math skills. I remember using TPS in a college education course and liked it, so

I wanted to find more information on TPS. At the beginning of my quest to find information,

there was not a lot of research out there on this topic, specifically in math. I finally found three

articles that were about using TPS in a math classroom. The three articles I found were all

research done outside of the United States, however, I believe that I can apply what they did to

my classroom.

In the first article I read, “The Effect of the Collaborative Discussion Strategy Think-Pair-

Share on Developing Students’ Skills in Solving Engineering Mathematical Problems,” the

research showed that participation increased when using TPS. Last year, I struggled with getting

students to answer my questions in class. Many of the students either did not know the answer,

were too shy to answer, or simply did not care about what we were learning. There was minimal

participation during my direct instruction. Going forward, I will introduce and go over the TPS

model in my classes at the beginning of the year to help promote participation. I will tell my

students that it is okay if they do not know the answers to questions, however, I do expect them

to participate and talk about what they do or do not know. I feel that they will be more excited

and willing to as well because they get to discuss with a partner first before the whole group

discussion. I am hoping that using the TPS model will increase student participation in my future

classes, and based on the research, it will.

Another result from using TPS is an increase in test/assignment scores, and all three of the

articles touched on this. In the three articles I read, they only tested TPS in one singular unit or
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chapter. I am curious to see if I used TPS all year, if student scores would increase for every

chapter or unit that I teach. I plan to continue to pretest at the beginning of every chapter in my

classroom, but I hope that with the help of TPS, that students will drastically excel in the quizzes

and final test of each chapter. Using the TPS model, students get a better understanding of what

they are learning, and what they know or do not know. This way, I can become better informed

on what I need to focus more on, like a specific section of content that they do not understand.

Or, if students have a good grasp on what we are learning, then I can move on to the next

question or section of content. Either way, using TPS will allow students to pinpoint what they

truly know or not, hopefully to ask for help on what they don’t know, and then increases test and

assignment scores.

And finally, TPS will allow my students to have more math discussions. I noticed last

year that many of my students did not have knowledge of the math vocabulary they should have

given that they were in high school. Using TPS will allow students to talk more in class every

day. Getting the exposure of hearing myself talk math terms will spark interest in them to do the

same. I hope that by talking more about the terminology, content, and specific lessons, students

will better understand what words mean in the ‘math world’. Thinking back to last year, I would

just tell them what certain words meant in math terms. However, I think in the future, I will pose

a question of what they think it means, and then use the TPS model to allow them to think and

discuss. This way, I can listen to what they have to say in pairs, and when we discuss as a group,

we can tackle the unknowns together.

In conclusion, I will be using the TPS model going forward in my classes. Through the

research I found, TPS increases students’ participation in class, scores on tests or assignments,
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and math discussions. TPS is such a simple concept to use with students, and I am excited to see

the positive results in future classes.