Hexagonal Thinking

Tech Tip Tuesday (April 1, 2025)

Shapes, I'm telling ya.

This image shows a collection of colorful hexagons arranged in a cluster on a textured background. Each hexagon contains a handwritten topic related to historical events and figures, such as: - **The Cold War** - **Vietnam War** - **Draft Dodging** - **Draft** - **PTSD** - **Secret War in Laos** - **My Lai Massacre** - **Campus Protests** - **Bob Dylan** - **Yoko Ono** - **Lyndon B. Johnson** The hexagons are outlined in various colors, including purple, green, red, and blue, creating a visually engaging layout.

Hexagonal thinking is a strategy that encourages students to explore and analyze connections between various concepts visually.

This method involves using hexagonal shapes, each representing an idea or concept, which students then connect based on their relationships.

The process promotes 🧠 critical thinking, 👯 collaboration, and 🎨 creativity.

Photo and blog courtesy of Cult of Pedagogy

How can I do this in my class?

This image shows hexagonal cards arranged on a plain surface. Each hexagon contains a single word, and they are connected in a chain-like pattern. The words include: - **purse** - **fur** - **church** - **bird** - **third** - **germ** - **giant** The hexagons have colorful outlines in shades of red, orange, green, and purple, making the layout visually appealing.

It's is a versatile instructional strategy adaptable across grade levels and subjects. The six-sided hexagons encourage multiple connections, allowing students to build complex webs of ideas.

For younger students, teachers provide pre-made hexagonal tiles with words or ideas, which students arrange and explain, demonstrating their understanding.

In middle and high school, students create their own tiles to connect to a central theme, using the method to activate prior knowledge, check understanding, or review for assessments. In a high school English class, for example, students might analyze 1984 by connecting themes, character traits, and historical context. While in algebra, they could solve polynomial expressions, with tiles linking only when answers are correct, facilitating peer review through gallery walks, deepening comprehension, and reinforcing vocabulary.

Got resources for me, bud?

There's no single way to use this strategy, and it can be used with or without tech!

Check out some the ways below where you can try it out in yours.

As always, give me a shout if you want to collaborate!

Hexagonal Thinking Slide Creation with Diffit

In this activity, students fill hexagon tiles with key vocabulary and work to make meaningful connections based on what they have learned. Add your content easily with Diffit!

Hexagonal Thinking Cutouts with Diffit

Print out these hexagon tiles with key vocabulary and work with groups to make meaningful connections based on what they learned. Have Diffit make it for you, and you customize it for your students!

Hexagon Generator

This HookED app populates a SOLO Hexagon Template that is easily printable and used by students!

Shared Google Slides for In-Class Breakouts

Work in commonly shared Google Slides with students, adding the terms and making sense in their groups! Make a copy for yourself!

Simple Google Slides Template

Fillable, printable Slides (easy, breezy, beautiful, Covergirl, right?)

Kami Template for Hexagonal Thinking

Template for students to link ideas that bounce off one another; Kami Voice Comment Tool provides a voice recording of the user's explanation, so students can read out loud their thoughts on the page.

This image is a banner with a light blue background and the text "RESOURCE OF THE WEEK" in bold, black, uppercase letters. - On the left side, there is an icon of a webpage or digital interface with a "+" symbol, suggesting a focus on online or digital resources. - On the right side, there are overlapping cards/icons in pink, blue, and white tones, possibly representing documents or additional resources. A darker blue bar runs along the bottom of the banner for added contrast.

Alt text: A person standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon wearing the Google Trekker, a backpack-mounted camera system used to capture 360-degree imagery. The individual is holding a smartphone while surrounded by a vast canyon landscape under a partly cloudy sky. The scene highlights the rugged terrain and the innovative technology used for virtual exploration. Share Compare @Claude-3.7-Sonnet Compare @Grok-2 Compare @Gemini-1.5-Pro Speak @ElevenLabs Can you shorten the alt text to under 125 characters? What keywords would you suggest for this image? How would you describe the Trekker's functionality in the alt text?

Take a hike.

xaGoogle Maps Treks offers immersive, 360-degree virtual tours of some of the world's most iconic and remote locations. Using high-quality panoramic imagery captured by the Google Trekker—a portable camera system—students can explore destinations like the Grand Canyon, the Amazon Rainforest, Mount Everest base camp, and the Great Barrier Reef. These free interactive tours allow students to virtually "travel" to places they may not otherwise experience, fostering curiosity and engagement in subjects such as geography, science, history, and environmental studies.

Many Treks include addtional content like photos, videos, and detailed descriptions to help students gain a deeper understanding of the location's history, culture, and global significance. Teachers can use Treks to create interactive assignments, spark discussions, or enhance project-based learning, making complex concepts more relatable and inspiring a sense of wonder about the world.

📍 Google Maps Treks

This image is a banner with a light blue background and the text **"THE CHANGELOG"** in bold, black, uppercase letters. Below it, in smaller text, it says **"Updates to your favorite services!"** - On both the left and right sides, there are circular arrow icons symbolizing updates or changes. - A dark blue bar runs along the bottom of the banner for added contrast.

Updates to NotebookLM

Google's NotebookLM continues to be a great educational tool, now supporting the creation of Mind Maps and outputting text to different languages!

After uploading some sources, a Mind Map option may appear in the center panel - though it seems to be dependent on the context of your sources.