Are some students falling behind? Use peer instruction to bridge the gap.

Studies show that students who learn with peer instruction show significant increases in both conceptual understanding and their ability to solve problems. Not only do students perform better on academic tests, but professors who use this method also report that peer instruction increases the students' ability to analyze concepts, improve their critical thinking skills, and achieve a more in-depth and meaningful understanding.

Squarecap simplifies this process by allowing teachers to automatically group students for peer instruction. After creating a seat map for the classroom, teachers can use Squarecap to group students with their neighbors who chose different answers to a question. Students will be prompted to discuss the question with their group and optionally change their answers.      

Squarecap will group students who are physically close to one another and who have different answer choices. Squarecap will prioritize pairing students who got the answer correct with students who got the answer wrong, creating the most efficient way to conduct peer instruction, even in classes with hundreds of students. Teachers can switch to seat map view when grouping students to see the groups created.

At any point during the lesson, or after running a question, teachers can click "Group Students”  to form groups of 2-5. Teachers can reopen the question (or not) so that students can work with each other to solve the most challenging problems that might be presented in the lesson.

Students will instantly receive a message that instructs them who to form a group with:

For best results, give your students time to discuss the reasoning for their answers and record their answers for a second try. Finish the question again to record this as a separate instance that can be used for before and after comparison.

Teachers who use this feature have reported that it is a game changer because of the way it facilitates peer learning.   Teachers who add this teaching tool will instantly see the benefits in both participation and academic success. 

Email additional questions to help@squarecap.com or schedule a time with an expert for one-on-one help.