Hexagonal thinking is a concept of business and innovation that is now brought into the classrooms. The method is about connecting the dots between ideas and finding the correlation between those connections.
The concept is widely used in classrooms and is equally effective irrespective of the medium of instruction. Whether online or offline, hexagonal thinking can help students develop critical thinking, creative thinking, and decision-making and aids engagement in the classroom.
How does it work?
The concept of hexagon thinking works on the idea of connecting dots between the ideas placed on each edge of the hexagon. Ideally, we place an idea on one side and create connections. This way, students develop a web of interconnected hexagons (ideas). The critical part is the play and the process through which they create this web. To make connections, students brainstorm and come up with unique concepts, ideas, stories or anything they can relate to. For instance, you can give a prompt by mentioning carbon dioxide on a hexagon, and students have to make connections to the prompt. So, one group may mention global warming, another climate change, etc. This chain of interconnected ideas makes way for open-ended discussions and allows students to unleash their creative and critical thinking capabilities together.
Here are a few videos to understand the concept and its usage before you implement it.
Quick Hexagonal Thinking in Your Class!
Hexagonal thinking helps in building critical thinking skills. This video showcases a simple, flexible activity that gets students collaborating and making connections between critical themes. The technique can be used in any unit you are teaching.
Hexagonal Thinking for Kids
Watch this video to understand how hexagonal thinking works toward varying levels of thinking as students arrange hexagons and analyse relationships between terms and concepts.
Work toward higher levels of thinking as students arrange hexagons and analyse relationships between terms and concepts!
Hexagonal Thinking as a Critical Thinking and Discussion Strategy
The video highlights how the hexagonal thinking strategy puts students in an active learning mode rather than passively taking in the information. It can be one of the best critical thinking and discussion strategy.
Hexagonal Thinking to Collaborate With Peers
Watch how hexagonal thinking is a powerful tool and helps students identify connections between key terms, ideas, and characters. The strategy can also help foster great classroom discussions and collaboration and help students internalise their thinking.
Hexagonal Thinking in English Language Arts
This video will show the action of hexagonal thinking in the English language arts classroom. It provides excellent hands-on learning for reading comprehension, novel study, literature circles, brainstorming, outlining, and more!
If you like this strategy and want to experiment with it, save yourself the hassle of creating hexagons, and use this tool to get it easily. With this solo hexagon template, you can easily print or use digital hexagons with the keywords of your choice.
