ETE modules diminish teacher talk. By teaming students with one another, students have frequent opportunities to talk as they construct knowledge themselves in the course of solving a problem. Thus, students may use more of their intellect in ETE than they use during traditional instruction. Depending on the nature of the task associated with a particular ETE module, cooperative teams may have two, three, or four students. Pairing is ideal because it maximizes student participation.
Pairs start to work easily and tend to maintain involvement.
Pairs tend to make less noise than larger teams. Occasionally a pair of students working together will have a task they are unable to complete by themselves, in which case they can ask another pair for help. However, there are times when more input is needed than a pair is likely to be able to generate. When a task calls for much creativity or many different perspectives, use teams of three or four. Teams form quickly and students learn how to respond when others reach out to them.