PEER TEACHING
PRESENTED TO DR SAMINA MALIK
BY SHAISTA YASIR
Introduction
As teachers, we need to incorporate all sorts of strategies to help our
students be successful. Peer teaching is one strategy that builds not only
content knowledge, but also student confidence.
One student with advanced knowledge of a particular topic, designated
as the ''tutor,'' provides instruction and guidance to a fellow student,
known as the ''learner'', who is less familiar with the subject in question.
Peer teaching was first introduced by educator Andrew Bell in 1795 and
has been a popular choice for mixed-ability classrooms ever since.
Not to be confused with peer instruction—a relatively new
concept designed by Harvard professor Eric Mazur in the early
1990s— peer teaching is a method by which one student
instructs another student in material on which the first is an
expert and the second is a novice
• Peer teaching has been widely used in education generally to
enhance students’ learning. There is extensive evidence that
peer learning and teaching is effective for a wide array of
goals and content (Johnson and Johnson, 1975; Johnson et
al., 1981).
• Peer teaching has been found to benefit the student
teachers, because preparing to teach involves in-depth study
of material, analysis, and selection of key concepts into one’s
own words
Importence of peer teaching
• Students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to
others and by participating in activities in which they
can learn from their peers.
• They develop skills in organizing and planning learning
activities, working collaboratively with others, giving
and receiving feedback and evaluating their own
learning.
Theoretical Foundation
Vygotsky and Piaget developed two widely accepted theories of
learning (Piaget, 1985; Vygotsky, 1978) that have made lasting
contributions to our societal understanding of learning, and in the
process, developed a foundation for peer teaching.
• Vygotsky developed the Sociocultural Theory of Learning.
adults greatly aided the learner in the construction of knowledge. Adults
or peers, with a greater degree of knowledge, are capable of assisting
and directing the learner in such a way as to promote a learning
dialogue (O’Donnell & O’Kelly, 1994; Palincsar, 1998).
Cont..
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development (1985)
largely based on the active involvement of peers.
Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of
children's cognitive development.
Piaget
stages of cognitive development
(1) sensorimotor intelligence,
(2) preoperational thinking,
(3) concrete operational
(4)Formal operational
Piaget's four stages
Stage Age Goal
Sensorimotor Birth to 18–24 Object
months old permanence
Preoperational 2 to 7 years old Symbolic thought
Concrete Operational
7 to 11 years old
operational thought
Formal Adolescence to
Abstract concepts
operational adulthood
DEFINITIONS
• Peer instruction, as defined by Boud, Cohen, and Sampson (1999), “refers to the
use of teaching and learning strategies in which students learn with and from
each other without the immediate intervention of a teacher”.
• When delivered via a tutoring method, peer instruction has been shown to
have positive impacts on both the peer teacher and the student
(De Lisi, 2002; Topping, 2005).
“Peer teaching can enhance learning by enabling learners to take
responsibility for reviewing, organizing, and consolidating existing
knowledge and material; understanding its basic structure; filling in the
gaps; finding additional meanings; and reformulating knowledge into
new conceptual frameworks’ (Dueck, 1993).”
Goldschmid and Goldschmid, 1976
categorized peer teaching under two main categories and five types as
follow;
1.Near-peers:
a. Undergraduate teaching assistants
b. Tutors
c. Counselors
2. Co-peers:
b.Partnerships
b. Work groups
Types of Peer Tutoring
• Unidirectional peer tutoring. Unidirectional peer
tutoring means that the trained peer tutor teaches
the entire time, and the child with a disability
remains the student in the pair. ...
• Bi-directional, or reciprocal, peer tutoring. ...
• Class-wide peer tutoring. ...
• Cross-age peer tutoring.(Lieberman, J. & Houston-Wilson 2002).
challenges of peer teaching
• Commitment
• Communication
• Time Management
• Insufficient knowledge
Advantages and Importance of Peer Teaching
• Increased Literacy Scores -
• Developed Reasoning and Critical Thinking Skills -
• Improved Confidence and Interpersonal Skills
• Increased Comfort and Openness
• Versatility
Disadvantages / Limitations of Peer Teaching
• Student Inexperience
• Student Hesitancy -
• Poor Applicability
• Lack of Confidentiality
• Parent Pushback
Strategies for Peer Teaching
1. Role-play
Create a Reward System 5. Allow Students to Take Turns Teaching
Teach Tutoring Skills 6. Partner with Another Class
i) Directive Tutoring 7. Select Students Who Want to, and Can, Tutor
ii) Non-Directive Tutoring - 8. Focus on Active Learning
2. Explain How to Give Feedback 9. Run Class wide Peer Editing Sessions
iii) Positive Feedback 10. Use Think-Pair-Share Activities
iv) Corrective Feedback 11. Modify Jigsaw Activities
3. Provide Written Prompts 12. Stress Confidentiality
4. Fill Knowledge Gaps 13. Identify Learning Objectives
Researches on peer teaching
• Austin Community College provided an overview of some of the existing
(though decades old) research in a collection of resources for teachers in
training, which provides a nice context for peer teaching.
• “There is a wealth of evidence that peer teaching is extremely effective for a
wide range of goals, content, and students of different levels and
personalities (McKeachie et al., 1986). Peer teaching involves one or more
students teaching other students in a particular subject area and builds on
the belief that “to teach is to learn twice” (Whitman, 1998).”
Cont…
• “Help from peers increases learning both for the students being
helped as well as for those giving the help. For the students being
helped, the assistance from their peers enables them to move away
from dependence on teachers and gain more opportunities to
enhance their learning. For the students giving the help, the
cooperative learning groups serve as opportunities to increase their
own performance. They have the chance to experience and learn that
“teaching is the best teacher” (Farivar and Webb, 1994).”
Cont…
• Further, in an article ‘How Using Peer Teaching Gets Students to Think in
Classes’ Eric Mazur (1997: 982) declares that using the method aids students to
think well, not resorting to memorization of materials, and not losing the thread
somewhere as they take notes. Peer teaching “is a pedagogy designed to reveal
common misunderstandings and to actively engage students in lecture course”
(Fagen et al. 2002:206).
• According to (Butchart et al. 2009),(May, 2018) peer teaching is “a simple and
effective technique that can be used to make lectures more interactive,
engaging, and effective learning experiences” (1). Bradford-Watts ,2011 also
describes peer teaching as “a suite of practices in which peers instruct each
other in a purpose-driven, meaningful interaction”. In addition, Cortright et al.
(2005: 107) propose that “to use peer teaching is to help students be able to
interpret, relate, and incorporate new information with existing knowledge and
apply the new information to solve novel problems”.
• A study published at Oxford Academic’s ELT Journal in 2017 added
little new information, with the abstract concluding, “The use of peer
teaching in the language classroom offers a creative way for students
to participate more fully in the learning process,” and alluding to
“previous studies (that) have reported that peer taught lessons bring
benefits such as improved motivation, enhanced learning, and
authentic communication.”
Conclusions
• Students enjoyed the active engagement.
• Peer teaching is an effective way to increase student engagement
and participation, facilitating a warm and interactive classroom
environment.
• The peer teachers can utilized diverse teaching methods, yet
constantly focused on personal interaction and relational activities
specific to their age group.
References
• Annis, L. F. (1983). The processes and effects of peer tutoring. Human Learning, 2(1).39-47.
• Bonwell, C. C. and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. Washington, D.C.: ASHE-ERIC
Higher Education Reports.
• Boz Yaman, B. (2017). A multiple case study: What happens in peer tutoring of calculus studies? International Journal of
Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology. 1- 20. Bradford-Watts, K. (2011). Students teaching students: Peer
teaching in the EFL classroom in Japan. The Language Teacher, 35(5). 31-35.
• Butchart, S., Handfiled, T. and Restall, G. (2009). Using Peer Instruction to teach Philosophy, Logic and Critical Thinking.
Teaching Philosophy, 32(1). 1-40.
• Cortright, R. N., Collins, H. L. and DiCarlo, S. E. (2005). Peer instruction enhanced meaningful learning: ability to solve
novel problems. Advances in Physiology Education, 29. 107-111.
• Dangwal, R. and Kapur, P. (2009). Learning through teaching: Peer-mediated instruction in minimally invasive education.
British Journal of Educational Technlogy, 40(1). 5-22.
• Dumont, A. (2013). Peer Instruction to learn English. A paper presented in the International conference “ICT for Language
Learning” 6th edition, Novemebr 14th -15th , 2013. Florence: Italy.
• Lieberman, J. & Houston-Wilson (2002).Strategies for Inclusion: A Handbook for Physical Educators. Champaign, IL:
Human Kinetics.
