Ontario Association of Physics Teachers
Annual Conference
27 - 29 May 2004

Ontario Section of the AAPT


Peer Instruction
 
Steve Bibla
 

This half-hour workshop will model Peer Instruction, a simple yet profound way of converting a 45-minute lecture into a stimulating, interactive, and conceptually challenging session. It involves selecting several conceptual problems beforehand, giving them to the class at appropriate places in the lecture, and asking students to "think, pair, and share," for five minutes. The questions elicit student preconceptions, involve them in discussing as peers, and deepens their conceptual learning, as proven by abundant research. Hundreds of PI questions have been developed, covering most physics topics. (Note: Peer Instruction was developed by Eric Mazur at Harvard University.)