Latest / New Teacher Talk / Ep 170: Hexagonal Thinking: A Versatile Strategy for Connecting Concepts Across All Subjects

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Ep 170: Hexagonal Thinking: A Versatile Strategy for Connecting Concepts Across All Subjects · New Teacher Talk

My name is David Atkins,
and I'm a high school US history teacher.
I wanna share with you a strategy that was shared with me
called hexagonal thinking.
I'm a state tested area,
and I'm routinely thinking through what strategies give my
students the most return for their investment.
I'm in my sixth year as a teacher,
and when I'm thinking through an activity to engage my
students, I want it ideally to fit two criteria.
One,
I want it to engage as much of my students as possible.
Reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking,
hands-on, cooperation, et cetera.
And number two, I want it to be adaptable.
First, the more ways students can engage with content,
the more they will understand and retain the material.
We all know this.
Reading is good.
Reading and writing about what they read is better.
Reading, writing, discussion, analysis, synthesis,
tactile arrangement, evaluation,
and we're getting into off-the-charts engagement.
Hexagonal thinking can utilize all of these.
Hexagonal thinking is also adaptable.
It's not tied to explaining one concept or for use with one
lesson or one teaching standard.
It's a great go-to activity,
so long as you don't mind cutting out hexagons or if you
can get your students to cut them out for you.
You can also tweak it to increase its rigor.
It doesn't have reading and writing and discussion and
evaluation all on the first go round.
It can evolve with your students as they get used to the
activity.
And there are ways to modify it to scaffold in struggling
students.
So what is hexagonal thinking?
Hexagonal thinking involves paper hexagons with terms or
concepts written on them that are then placed side by side
in a web or pattern creating connections between the
concepts.
Students place hexagons next to each other with sides
touching to show they are related in some way.
Then students have to explain why they are related.
There are six sides to a hexagon,
so multiple terms can be connected together.
Hexagonal thinking can be used with any content.
For science,
you could use scientific concepts and their explanations or
animals with classifications.
With English,
you could use parts of a story with specific elements from
say, The Crucible.
For social studies,
you can use vocabulary terms and have students connect them
and explain why they are connected.
For math,
have some hexagons with problems and some with solutions
and students have to show their work on a separate sheet of
paper.
If a hexagon is touching the side of another hexagon,
there has to be an explanation for why they belong
together.
What's the relationship?
Is it cause and effect?
Are they in the same group?
Is this one hexagon the solution for these other hexagons?
Please explain why.
Students can work independently,
but with a partner or in small groups is where you get that
discussion piece.
This can be scaled up to increase rigor.
You change it up for your students to ensure it doesn't get
stale.
The first time I recommend using concepts your students
will already be familiar with.
I typically use 10 hexagons that include the names of
points of interest from our local town, street names,
stadiums, maybe local celebrities, colleges.
You could try using pop culture references like movies or
celebrities or superheroes, music bands.
You might include things that seemingly have nothing to do
with each other, like NASCAR, Spiderman,
and K-pop demon hunters,
just to see what kinds of connections your students could
create.
It's easier for them to start with something familiar when
learning a new activity.
The next time you could use hexagons from your content that
already have concepts printed on them that you want your
students to think through.
As you monitor group discussions,
call on students in the group to explain why certain
concepts are connected.
This helps them know that everyone in the group is
accountable to know why these hexagons are connected.
On the third time through the activity,
we have students pick from a list of terms or concepts and
fill in their own hexagons.
.
Connect them all and glue them on a large post-it.
And then each student picks two or three points of
connection.
And they have to provide written explanations on the large
post-it for each connection they chose.
On a fourth time through,
you could additionally have each group hang their hexagon
post-it creation on the classroom wall and have all the
student groups do a gallery walk with the goal of making at
least two comments on a different group's creation,
either affirming a particular connection or a suggestion
for an incorrect or weak connection.
If your students are anything like mine,
the evaluation piece will require some additional
instruction as to what does and what does not constitute
constructive feedback.
There's so much more that could be added to this activity
to change up where you want the students to focus.
And as you're modifying this activity,
there are also ways to modify it to make sure all your
students, even struggling ones,
are included and can contribute.
You can use roles.
I typically have a researcher, a timekeeper, a facilitator,
and a connector.
The researcher types and searches on the computer and uses
the notes to look up information about terms.
The connector is the only one who physically connects the
terms.
So my special education student, who can't type very fast,
can still connect terms as the group discusses.
And they are still utilizing tactile learning while they
connect the terms.
While students are writing about a three-point connection
where three hexagons are connected,
which is a little more complicated than a connection that
only includes two hexagons,
you can have some students stick with explaining a two
-point connection.
They are still learning,
but at a level that is more attainable for them.
I love hexagonal thinking.
It engages students in lots of kinds of learning at the
same time and can evolve with them as they grow and learn.
I hope it's helpful for you, too.
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