| A comparative research design was used to examine the effects of Think-Pair-Share on the participation and engagement of second grade students during whole group discussion about literature. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the following research questions: Can the instructional strategy, Think-Pair-Share, improve the voluntary participation of second grade students during whole group discussion about literature? Will the use of Think-Pair-Share increase students' on-task behavior during whole group discussion? Two instructional strategies (Initiate-Response-Evaluate and Think-Pair-Share) were implemented during two separate conditions to observe and compare students' behavioral responses to each during literary discussion in the classroom. During each condition, two observation techniques were used to collect data. The measures for this study included a participation observation which measured incidents of students' voluntary hand-raising and an at-task analysis observation which measured students' on and off task behavior. The results indicated that Think-Pair-Share had a positive effect on students' voluntary participation, though it did not increase students' on-task behavior. |
