Speaking of hives, honeycombs, and hexagons...
Teachers get so excited when they discover new frameworks for discussion and critical thinking. When we recently stumbled upon the hexagonal thinking framework, we immediately recognized the potential it had to get our students thinking deeper about their learning and we knew we just had to find an opportunity to give it a try.
Hexagonal thinking is a flexible, tactile approach to getting students thinking about connections they might never otherwise make, while making a conceptual understanding of ideas visible. Here's the gist. In small groups, students are provided with a set of hexagonal tiles, each tile containing different ideas or words written on them, which they work collaboratively to arrange so that related tiles are next to each other - essentially building a web of connections. This strategy is designed to get students engaged in discussion and negotiation of the tile placements. As they move the tiles around, it prompts them to consider connections that they hadn't previously discovered. This approach challenges students to demonstrate higher levels of understanding by explaining the relationships between ideas using evidence.
Our first go-around with this experience was related to North America's geography. We saw some groups of students making deep connections to their learning and asking each other relevant and meaningful questions during their discoveries, while others seemed to struggle with the abstract. In a debrief, we shared our community experience and discussed ways to make this type of thinking work even better. Regardless of the successes or failures experienced, we all agreed that hexagonal thinking has the potential to be a very powerful thinking tool and we need the opportunity to try it again with more scaffolds in place to help ignite connections and get students thinking critically. This week's guest bloggers reflect on their experience with this. Enjoy.
During the hexagonal thinking activity, I enjoyed making connections. I got really into finding ways to connect the words and ideas. It was sometimes challenging, but learning is not fun without a challenge. - @WowWriter
Hexagonal thinking helped me make deeper connections to what I was learning about by talking it out with my classmates. - @WaterBottle1
My group could have been better at communicating during the hexagonal thinking activity. We could have been better at listening to each other and letting each other share their ideas. In the long haul, you should listen and respect everyone's ideas. By doing that, you will be a better human being. - @Pineapple
The hexagonal thinking activity helped me understand that Mexico is not just a tropical place but a tropical place with a lot of interesting history! I enjoyed making connections with the words. - @Venom
My group did not do well with the hexagonal thinking activity. I think if we had let other people share their ideas and let other people build on them, we would have been more successful. We were kind of stuck. - @Cheeto111
My group started out not working really well together, but we eventually worked it out and then it started to feel more like a team. Doing the hexagonal thinking activity helped me get a deeper understanding about the geography of Mexico. - @PickleKitty
What I enjoyed most about the hexagonal thinking activity is that we could connect one idea to another. This made learning about Mexico more interesting and enjoyable. - @Blocky
The hexagonal thinking activity helped me better understand Mexico because when we were putting connecting words, I was understanding more and more about the country. - @Giraffe
What I enjoyed about the hexagonal thinking activity is that we were thinking hard and we were fixing our mistakes. The best part was working together and collaborating. - @Flash4
I enjoyed seeing how other people were thinking because it get you some ideas and you give some. The hexagonal thinking activity helped me understand more about the country I chose. - @recycle14
I think we could have done better by letting others think and share their ideas. We were just taking apart our own ideas and not caring about other people's ideas. - @Swagger-25
What I enjoyed most about the hexagonal thinking activity was working with a group. I enjoy working in groups because you can share and learn from your group members. - @Strawberry
A couple of things that I enjoyed about the hexagonal thinking activity is that it showed how other people think about what we are learning about and that you needed to have good teamwork and collaboration to make it work. My team worked well and understood each other. It was like we were sharing the same mind. - @Wolverine12
My group had a fun time working on making connections in the hexagonal thinking activity. There was no chance that this was a boring activity. - @NonCat
The hexagonal thinking activity helped me understand the country I was learning about because we made simple connections and it made us remember some things that we already knew and could relate to. This activity definitely helped me better understand the country I was learning about. - @TheBeeGuy101
I think my group didn't do their best. I felt like not everyone was focused and we could have compromised and listened more. Also, when someone disagrees, we should at least try to see if their idea works instead of saying 'no'. - @EarthySmurf
If I'm being completely honest, our group was not very successful. I'm saying this because my team wasn't good at listening to what others had to say. I felt frustrated and others may have been feeling this, too. It would have gone better if everyone was open to listening. - @Ham
During the hexagonal thinking activity, I enjoyed making connections. I also liked working as a team. It felt like I was putting my head on the table. I like seeing how other people make connections. - @GoatLover
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