Two Minute Review

Illustration of two individuals sharing ideas (cnythzl, Getty Images)

Format

Text

This learning strategy helps students process and consolidate new information through an active learning process.

Why use it?

To support active processing and comprehension of new content.
To increase collaboration, cooperation and communication among students.
To improve listening and questioning skills.
To provide opportunity for students to learn and interact with students they might not otherwise engage with.

Ensure students are familiar with working in small groups. If necessary, review norms and expectations.
Ensure students understand their roles as speaker and listener.
Chunk content presentation into 10 to 15 minutes segments.
Reduce the time taken for students to decide the speaking order by providing clear directions of who will go first (e.g., the tallest person, the person with the longer/shorter or lighter/darker hair, the person whose birthday is closest to this date, the person wearing the most/least jewelry).
Establish a nonverbal signal for when students should return to whole class instruction (e.g., ringing a bell, clapping hands, raising their hands and stopping talking when they see the teacher’s hand or another student’s hand raised, switching lights on and off).

Plan your instruction so that new information is presented in chunks that are a maximum of 15 minutes each. For younger students, aim for a maximum of 10 minutes.
At the end of each chunk of information, have students partner with the person next to them.
Each student takes turns summarizing what has just been presented (i.e., as if their partner just joined the class and asked “what did I miss?”).
Student A provides their summary while student B listens. Student B then restates student A’s summary, adding new or missing information as necessary. Provide time notifications to ensure both students have ample time to speak.
After 2 minutes has elapsed, signal that time is up using a predetermined signal.
Ask students if they felt unsure of, or confused by, any of the new information. Clarify as necessary.
Continue to the next chunk of information and repeat.

Instead of having students summarize new information, assign a specific question for them to answer based on the newly presented information.
If classroom configuration permits, have students move around the room prior to forming partners and, at a predetermined signal, form partners with someone they have not worked with recently.
Use this strategy at the beginning of class to summarize and review the previous day’s content.
Have two partners form a quad and repeat the activity.
With their partner, have students create a “headline summary” in which they write a newspaper headline that summarizes the main points of the lesson.

Organize students into review groups of 3 or 4 that will meet periodically during the unit/section being covered. At points during the unit/section, bring groups together to review and confirm understanding of what has been covered to that point. Create groups by having students “count off” to randomly create their review group. The 1’s form one review group, the 2’s form another, and so on. For example, for a class of 25 students, where the goal is to form groups of 4, students would count off to 6. This will create 6 groups of 4 students with group 1 having one extra member. To form groups of 3, students count off to 8.

Captivate Science, (n.d.). Two-minute talk: Class Participation Strategy. Accessed September 9, 2023 at https://captivatescience.com/two-minute-talk-class-participation/

Prodigy, (2018). 8 Active Learning Strategies and Examples. Accessed September 9, 2023 at https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/active-learning-strategies-examples/.

Sara A. Wyse, (2014). The 4-Minute Summary: Helping students recall, recap and explain the big picture... and much more! Accessed September 9, 2023 at https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/coursesource/publications?id=2519&v=1.