Today I tried out a Hexagonal thinking activity in my U.S. History classes. Hexagonal Thinking is a visual tool to help students make connections and organize ideas on a topic. I used my Hexagonal thinking activity as an assessment. It also could be used as a lesson or a review activity.
The kids were engaged the ENTIRE period. Definitely worth the prep time!
Here's a quick summary of what you're seeing: Five groups have been given envelopes with several dozen Hexagonal Cards and an instruction card. (The hexagonal cards have names, dates, events, and vocabulary printed on them.) I spent about five minutes at the beginning of class explaining the instructions before I broke the kids up into groups. (The instruction/task card is to use as a reference.)
Once in their groups, students placed all their hexagonal cards face up. After that, they sorted their cards into categories. Then, they started building connections among the cards. Many of the cards had multiple connections; the students needed to decide within their groups which connections were the strongest.
I gave my students 35 minutes to complete the activity. I told them their goal was to use as many cards as possible in 35 minutes. If they needed to look up a term, I allowed them to do so. I only had two groups (one from my 3rd period and one from my 7th period) use all of their cards in the time allowed. We had a shortened schedule so we didn't have time to complete the second-phase of the activity-- marking up the cards. (My original plan was to have my students mark-up as many cards as time allowed, indicating how the cards connected. I was looking for cause-effect, change and continuity, and turning points in time connections.
The kids were engaged the ENTIRE period. Definitely worth the prep time!
Here's a quick summary of what you're seeing: Five groups have been given envelopes with several dozen Hexagonal Cards and an instruction card. (The hexagonal cards have names, dates, events, and vocabulary printed on them.) I spent about five minutes at the beginning of class explaining the instructions before I broke the kids up into groups. (The instruction/task card is to use as a reference.)
Once in their groups, students placed all their hexagonal cards face up. After that, they sorted their cards into categories. Then, they started building connections among the cards. Many of the cards had multiple connections; the students needed to decide within their groups which connections were the strongest.
I gave my students 35 minutes to complete the activity. I told them their goal was to use as many cards as possible in 35 minutes. If they needed to look up a term, I allowed them to do so. I only had two groups (one from my 3rd period and one from my 7th period) use all of their cards in the time allowed. We had a shortened schedule so we didn't have time to complete the second-phase of the activity-- marking up the cards. (My original plan was to have my students mark-up as many cards as time allowed, indicating how the cards connected. I was looking for cause-effect, change and continuity, and turning points in time connections.
These cards weren't difficult to make, just a little time-consuming! I made my cards using PowerPoint. I saved a lot of time by enlisting the help of my TA and a few trusted students to help cut out the hexagonal cards! If you don't have time to make your own, my Holocaust Unit Hexagonal Thinking Cards are available in my TpT store.
-Happy Teaching!
