If you haven’t tried speed geeking in your class, you should.  You students will be engaged, communicating, thinking critically and having fun.

Although I teach physics, I have a handful of non-physics learning targets for my students to master.  One of them is “describe factors that allow for survival of living organisms.”  This includes things like beak design and protective coloration.  The final turn-in for the lesson is a drawing and description of their invented animal. I absolutely did not want to spend a day listening to students describe their animals.  That’s where my idea of speed geeking arose.

I split my class in two, labeling one half A and the other B.  They were in teams – with A and B facing one another.  They had to shake hands and introduce themselves to one another (although most already knew their partner). When I gave the signal, person A told person B about their creature. They had 90 seconds to talk.  Then person B talked for 90 seconds.  After that they had one minute for questions.   When they finished, both stood up, shook hands and thanked one another.  Person B moved on to a new Person A.  (Person A stayed in place.) Each rounds takes about 5 minutes.

I can see this being used in all subjects.  Give an even number of math problems.  Person A will teach the even numbered problems, Person B the odd ones.  Writing assignments, projects, timelines, etc. can all be evaluated using Speed Geeking.

How will you use speed geeking?