- The goal is to only answer questions after students have discussed them and tried working on them with their partner.
- This technique is important because it also allows students to develop meaningful relationships with one another by working together to solve tough problems.
- It’s important to check with students before answering questions because some students will alienate their partner by asking a teacher for help rather than asking their partner.
- When students do this, they can implicitly signal to a their partner that their partner isn’t capable of helping which can be very harmful to a students self-concept.
- This can happen even when the student does not dismiss their partner intentionally.
- Answering a student’s question when they haven’t discussed it with their partner reinforces this undesired behavior.