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a ready-to-run workshopLearning by Teaching
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Peer Teaching & Learning by Teaching (Workshop)

One of the best ways to learn something is to teach it. When students explain and teach content to peers, they have to organize, clarify, and deepen their own understanding, which benefits the teacher-student as much as the learner.

Key takeaway

Teaching something is one of the best ways to learn it; when students explain and teach content to peers, they organize and deepen their own understanding, benefiting the student-teacher as much as the learner.

Format
PLC / team meeting
Length
45 minutes
Group size
Any (works 4-40)
Who can run it
Any teacher-leader
You will need
Slides (5)Printed handoutContent to teach in mindA timer
Aligned to
Learning Forward: Rigorous ContentInTASC 8: Instructional StrategiesResearch on learning by teaching
Share / assign

Why it works

Research on the protege effect and learning by teaching shows that preparing to teach, and actually explaining content to others, deepens the explainer's own understanding: it requires organizing knowledge, identifying gaps, generating explanations, and retrieving and elaborating, all powerful for learning. Structured peer teaching (reciprocal teaching, peer tutoring, teach-backs, students preparing to teach a segment) benefits both the student teaching and the one learning, when it is well-structured, the explainers genuinely prepare and explain, and the content is accurate. It harnesses a powerful mechanism that passive learning does not.

The research: Research on learning by teaching (the protege effect).

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

    The core activity: harness learning by teaching

    Teachers leave with structured peer teaching planned for one piece of content.

    Teaching it is learning itWhen students prepare and explain content to peers, they deepen their own understanding. Structure genuine peer teaching, and monitor for accuracy.

    Facilitator notes

    Vague help-your-partner is not learning by teachingThe benefit comes from genuinely preparing and explaining, not a quick help-each-other. Structure real peer teaching and monitor accuracy.

    Adapt it

    Participant handout

    One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

    K12 Academics · Professional Learning

    Learning by Teaching: teaching it is learning it

    <b>The one teaching learns most:</b> structure genuine peer teaching, have explainers prepare and explain, monitor accuracy.

    1. Content students could teach or explain:
    2. How I structure genuine peer teaching:
    3. How I make sure explainers prepare and explain:
    4. How I monitor for accuracy:
    5. Where help-your-partner could become real peer teaching:

    Make it stick

    Teaching it is learning it:

    Common questions

    Why does teaching help the teacher learn?
    Explaining content requires organizing it, finding gaps, generating explanations, and retrieving and elaborating, all powerful for the explainer's own learning. The one teaching often learns most.
    How do I use peer teaching?
    Structured approaches, reciprocal teaching, peer tutoring, teach-backs, or having students prepare to teach a segment, so explainers genuinely prepare and explain. Structure makes it work.
    What if a student teaches something wrong?
    Monitor for accuracy and build in checks. Well-structured peer teaching with accurate content benefits both students; unmonitored, errors can spread.

    Go deeper

    Build it into a bigger day

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    Workshop
    Elaboration
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    Retrieval Practice