Hexagonal Thinking For Project Based Learning And More

It has been suggested that when we have students work on project based learning activities, we help them by introducing them to something called hexagonal thinking.  Hexagonal thinking is an activity specifically designed to help students learn to think critically, make novel connections, increase discussion while providing evidence to support their reasoning.  This is done by visually connecting ideas that have been written on paper or using a hexagon either digitally or on paper.
Picture this if you will.  You have a bunch of empty six sided figures or hexagons.  You write a name or idea on each hexagon and then assemble the hexagons so ones that are related or connected in some way touch upon each other.  The nice thing about this is that every person and every group will assemble the cards in a different way.  Hopefully students will question some of the connections and discuss which connections work better.  

In addition hexagonal thinking helps promote a more rigorous project in project based learning activities.  There really are three levels of rigor when thinking about PBL’s.  The first is composed of simple I know skills or ideas which is the lowest level.  The second encompasses a more deeper level where the student is able  to relate the skills or ideas.  The last level is the transfer level, so students are able to apply the skills or ideas to other contexts and this is where we want our students to end up.
Within the six steps of hexagonal thinking, these three levels are applied and students move deeper in their understanding.  Each step is designed to help students go from the entry event which helps build the need for surface and deeper learning.  The first step is the entry event or launch.  This is where the context or contexts are created for the students.  The entry event might be listening to a podcast, watching a situational video but it needs to initiate the intellectual engagement.

The second step is for surface exploration.  This is where hexagonal notes are passed out and students are asked to write down key terms, the context and content which shows relationships.  Context refers to the situations where the content applies and content is the specific knowledge or skills to be applied.  If students are not sure where to start, supply them with a word bank to use.
The third step is where students move on to a deep level connections.  This step is done using smaller steps or parts.  Step one is to have students discuss the connections between the words they have on the hexagonal notes.  They can also write down the connections but they need to talk about connections between content, between context, and between both.  Once they’ve done this, they are then asked to compare and contrast their results with the results of another group.  

Step four is designed to help encourage transferring knowledge by asking students to think of other contents and contexts associated with this project.  This is where they might create analogies, compare contexts across groups, speculate on how their configurations might change over time, and draft any questions they have yet to solve.  In step five, students share their thinking from the previous step to help identify the driving questions, learning goals, and success criteria.  One way to do this is by using structured protocols such as chat stations.  

In the final step, the class decides which questions they will work on to answer. It is here that students can write down what they know and what they need to know, what steps they will take to answer the driving questions, and how they know they are successful. Although this is designed to help students get started doing their projects, I can see where it could be used to help students learn how math is used in the everyday world.  For instance, slope is found on road signs, roofs, ramps, and so much more.  This is a way for students to make the connections on their own.  Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear.  Have a great day.