title: The Effects of using Think-Pair-Share during Guided Reading Lessons

authors: Carss, Wendy Diane

subjects: Think-Pair-Share

abstract: The aim of this research was to describe the effects of Think-Pair-Share strategies, used during Guided Reading lessons, on reading achievement.  Think-Pair-Share is a co-operative teaching strategy that includes three components; time for thinking, time for sharing with a partner and time for each pair to share back to a larger group.  The use of Think-Pair-Share unites the cognitive and social aspects of learning, promoting the development of thinking and the construction of knowledge.  The strategy lends itself to inclusion within Guided Reading lessons, where the focus is on meaningful discussion around text and promotion of the use of comprehension skills and strategies to foster comprehension.  The literature review describes the effectiveness of explicit comprehension strategy instruction within the context of small group discussion.  Strategies that foster cooperative learning have been successful in developing interpersonal skills, cognitive skills and metacognitive awareness.  There is very little research documenting the effects of the use of the Think-Pair-Share strategy.

The study took place in a Year 6 classroom with two intervention groups, each containing six children.  One group was reading above their chronological age and the other below.  Control groups reading at these levels were also used. Three variations of Think-Pair-Share were utilised during the eight week intervention period; Predict-Pair-Share, Image-Pair-Share and Summarise-Pair-Share, and the research centred on the effects of the intervention on reading comprehension.  A quasi-experimental design was employed using a pre-test, post-test format and a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures to ascertain the effects.  
The results confirmed the positive effects of the strategy on reading achievement, especially for those students reading above their chronological age, although an extended period of intervention may have had more significant effects on those reading below.  Positive effects on aspects of oral language use, thinking, metacognitive awareness, and the development of reading comprehension strategies were noted with both of the intervention groups.  Results have significance for those concerned with implementing effective literacy practice.  They demonstrate the versatility of the Think-Pair-Share strategy as a tool to foster conversation, and one that can be adapted to suit the learning focus and the needs of particular groups of students.

text: The Effects of using Think-Pair-Share during Guided Reading Lessons The aim of this research was to describe the effects of Think-Pair-Share strategies, used during Guided Reading lessons, on reading achievement.  Think-Pair-Share is a co-operative teaching strategy that includes three components; time for thinking, time for sharing with a partner and time for each pair to share back to a larger group.  The use of Think-Pair-Share unites the cognitive and social aspects of learning, promoting the development of thinking and the construction of knowledge.  The strategy lends itself to inclusion within Guided Reading lessons, where the focus is on meaningful discussion around text and promotion of the use of comprehension skills and strategies to foster comprehension.  The literature review describes the effectiveness of explicit comprehension strategy instruction within the context of small group discussion.  Strategies that foster cooperative learning have been successful in developing interpersonal skills, cognitive skills and metacognitive awareness.  There is very little research documenting the effects of the use of the Think-Pair-Share strategy.

The study took place in a Year 6 classroom with two intervention groups, each containing six children.  One group was reading above their chronological age and the other below.  Control groups reading at these levels were also used. Three variations of Think-Pair-Share were utilised during the eight week intervention period; Predict-Pair-Share, Image-Pair-Share and Summarise-Pair-Share, and the research centred on the effects of the intervention on reading comprehension.  A quasi-experimental design was employed using a pre-test, post-test format and a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures to ascertain the effects.  
The results confirmed the positive effects of the strategy on reading achievement, especially for those students reading above their chronological age, although an extended period of intervention may have had more significant effects on those reading below.  Positive effects on aspects of oral language use, thinking, metacognitive awareness, and the development of reading comprehension strategies were noted with both of the intervention groups.  Results have significance for those concerned with implementing effective literacy practice.  They demonstrate the versatility of the Think-Pair-Share strategy as a tool to foster conversation, and one that can be adapted to suit the learning focus and the needs of particular groups of students.

year: 2007

title: Mental healthcare needs and experiences of LGBT+ individuals in Malaysia: Utility, enablers, and barriers

authors: Ho, Sheau Huey

subjects: LGBT

abstract: Access to mental healthcare is undoubtedly of major importance for LGBT+ people worldwide, given the high prevalence of mental health difficulties due to minority stress exposures. This study drew mixed-method survey data from the community-based KAMI Survey (n = 696) to examine the enablers, barriers, and unmet needs experiences of LGBT+ individuals in accessing mental healthcare services in Malaysia. First, we present findings from a series of descriptive analyses for sociodemographic differences in unmet needs for mental healthcare, barriers, and satisfaction levels with different types of mental healthcare. Next, we conducted an inductive thematic analysis of open-text comments (n = 273), with relevance drawn to Andersen’s Behavioural Model of Healthcare. More than a quarter (29.5%) reported an unmet need for mental healthcare, and some groups (younger, asexual or queer, or participants living in non-major cities) reported higher unmet needs. More than three-fifths (60.5%) reported not knowing where to find culturally safe mental health professionals. The thematic analysis uncovered key contextual (e.g., mental health practitioners’ stance, stigma, collaborative client-care) and individual (e.g., positive expectation of mental health services and anticipated stigma) attributes that influence healthcare experiences. Participants also identified resources that facilitate healthcare utilisation, such as affordability, availability of suitable professionals, and geographical considerations. The implications of our findings for the mental healthcare practices in Malaysia were outlined.

text: Mental healthcare needs and experiences of LGBT+ individuals in Malaysia: Utility, enablers, and barriers Access to mental healthcare is undoubtedly of major importance for LGBT+ people worldwide, given the high prevalence of mental health difficulties due to minority stress exposures. This study drew mixed-method survey data from the community-based KAMI Survey (n = 696) to examine the enablers, barriers, and unmet needs experiences of LGBT+ individuals in accessing mental healthcare services in Malaysia. First, we present findings from a series of descriptive analyses for sociodemographic differences in unmet needs for mental healthcare, barriers, and satisfaction levels with different types of mental healthcare. Next, we conducted an inductive thematic analysis of open-text comments (n = 273), with relevance drawn to Andersen’s Behavioural Model of Healthcare. More than a quarter (29.5%) reported an unmet need for mental healthcare, and some groups (younger, asexual or queer, or participants living in non-major cities) reported higher unmet needs. More than three-fifths (60.5%) reported not knowing where to find culturally safe mental health professionals. The thematic analysis uncovered key contextual (e.g., mental health practitioners’ stance, stigma, collaborative client-care) and individual (e.g., positive expectation of mental health services and anticipated stigma) attributes that influence healthcare experiences. Participants also identified resources that facilitate healthcare utilisation, such as affordability, availability of suitable professionals, and geographical considerations. The implications of our findings for the mental healthcare practices in Malaysia were outlined.

year: 2024-05-13

title: Fanning the divine spark: Gaining understandings of micro-interactions in New Zealand classrooms

authors: Eley, Elizabeth Martha Ann

subjects: micro-interactions

abstract: New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of Iwi Māori (Indigenous tribal groups) and the British Crown.  Inherent in the heritages of both signatory groups is the ontological positioning that children are born of greatness; carriers of the divine spark from Tama-nui-te-rā (the central sun) and created in the image of God.  Almost all New Zealand children attend school.  For some, their ongoing classroom experiences with educators fans their divine spark and works towards the realisation of their innate potential.  For others, schooling is not a positive experience and their divine spark may be neither recognised nor celebrated.  

This research explores the relationships and pedagogical practices that underpin the classroom micro-interactions experienced by children.  Children’s schooling experience is made up of small interactions in classrooms that are situated in the social, political and legal contexts of schooling.  Therefore, this research applies both a centripetal and a centrifugal examination of the macro and micro contexts of classroom interactions.  

In examining the macro-context, ontological views of the child and the theoretical frameworks that guide pedagogy are considered.  The Education Acts governing New Zealand schooling have successively contained an ontological contradiction that enforces both a factory model as the preferred means of schooling for New Zealand and a requirement to honour the Treaty of Waitangi, including the worldviews of both signatories.  I conclude that educators within the compulsory schooling sector are not provided with specific guidance on how to navigate these contradictory worldviews.  Neither ontological views of how children are perceived within the system, nor theoretical frameworks that could and should inform views of knowledge and how learning occurs, are made explicit for educators.  

At the micro-context level, relationships and pedagogical practices are explored through case studies in three different New Zealand classrooms.  In each case, from video-recordings of classroom interactions, critical incidents were extracted and used to support interviews with participating teachers, students, parents and members of the wider school community.  Employing culturally responsive research methodologies, the interactions with participants were relational and dialogic.  The research found that classroom micro-interactions are pervasive and complex.  All participants, students, teachers and whānau, draw from the knowledge, understandings and positionings of the individual’s own cultural toolkits in classroom interactions.  Their cultural toolkits contain a range of factors to support learning, all of which were necessary and interdependent.  

The thesis calls for all children to receive an education that fans their inherent divine spark.  While this experience is not yet the case for all, there is opportunity in the rhetoric and structures already within New Zealand’s education system for this to occur.  Some schools and communities have begun to successfully challenge and address the prevailing theoretical and pedagogical status quo.  Therefore, there is reason for radical hope for a system-wide fanning of the divine spark in every child.

text: Fanning the divine spark: Gaining understandings of micro-interactions in New Zealand classrooms New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of Iwi Māori (Indigenous tribal groups) and the British Crown.  Inherent in the heritages of both signatory groups is the ontological positioning that children are born of greatness; carriers of the divine spark from Tama-nui-te-rā (the central sun) and created in the image of God.  Almost all New Zealand children attend school.  For some, their ongoing classroom experiences with educators fans their divine spark and works towards the realisation of their innate potential.  For others, schooling is not a positive experience and their divine spark may be neither recognised nor celebrated.  

This research explores the relationships and pedagogical practices that underpin the classroom micro-interactions experienced by children.  Children’s schooling experience is made up of small interactions in classrooms that are situated in the social, political and legal contexts of schooling.  Therefore, this research applies both a centripetal and a centrifugal examination of the macro and micro contexts of classroom interactions.  

In examining the macro-context, ontological views of the child and the theoretical frameworks that guide pedagogy are considered.  The Education Acts governing New Zealand schooling have successively contained an ontological contradiction that enforces both a factory model as the preferred means of schooling for New Zealand and a requirement to honour the Treaty of Waitangi, including the worldviews of both signatories.  I conclude that educators within the compulsory schooling sector are not provided with specific guidance on how to navigate these contradictory worldviews.  Neither ontological views of how children are perceived within the system, nor theoretical frameworks that could and should inform views of knowledge and how learning occurs, are made explicit for educators.  

At the micro-context level, relationships and pedagogical practices are explored through case studies in three different New Zealand classrooms.  In each case, from video-recordings of classroom interactions, critical incidents were extracted and used to support interviews with participating teachers, students, parents and members of the wider school community.  Employing culturally responsive research methodologies, the interactions with participants were relational and dialogic.  The research found that classroom micro-interactions are pervasive and complex.  All participants, students, teachers and whānau, draw from the knowledge, understandings and positionings of the individual’s own cultural toolkits in classroom interactions.  Their cultural toolkits contain a range of factors to support learning, all of which were necessary and interdependent.  

The thesis calls for all children to receive an education that fans their inherent divine spark.  While this experience is not yet the case for all, there is opportunity in the rhetoric and structures already within New Zealand’s education system for this to occur.  Some schools and communities have begun to successfully challenge and address the prevailing theoretical and pedagogical status quo.  Therefore, there is reason for radical hope for a system-wide fanning of the divine spark in every child.

year: 2020