UEN Teacher Tips

Classroom discussion is a powerful tool for deepening students’ learning (Hattie places its effect size at 0.82) but can be difficult to facilitate. How can we get more students to talk—and talk more deeply—about what they’re learning? One of my favorite approaches is hexagonal thinking. 

Originally developed by Betsy Potash, hexagonal thinking is a discussion-based activity requiring students to connect ideas. It works like this: students are divided into groups and given a number of hexagons (either physical or digital). Each hexagon is labeled with an idea or concept. Students then illustrate connections between ideas by lining up the side of one hexagon with the side of another.

Because hexagons have six sides, any one idea could potentially connect with six others, providing ample opportunity for students to find interesting connections they may have missed otherwise. Most importantly, though, the task itself demands enough creativity and collaboration to spark meaningful conversation. 

When working with teachers to establish stronger classroom dialogue, I’ve found it useful to facilitate hexagonal thinking in Lucidspark. Because of Lucid’s recent partnership with Instructure, all Canvas users now have access to the full Lucid suite. Follow these quick steps to prep the activity:

1. Sign into Lucid through Canvas. Access your Canvas account and either select the Lucid option in your course navigation or choose the Lucid icon in Canvas’ Rich Content Editor.

2. Once you’ve signed into Lucid, open Lucidspark. Create as many hexagons as you’d like your students to tangle with, and add any other elements you think could deepen students’ conversations. (I like to ask students to designate interesting connections with stars, and when comparing concepts from different units or texts, I tend to color code the hexagons.) 

3. Publish your whiteboard and edit the link so that it forces a copy when clicked. To make the link force a copy, simply replace “view” at the end of the link with “editNew.”

4. Publish the link in Canvas (or anywhere else your students access online materials) and direct one student in each group to click on the link and share the whiteboard with the rest of their group. 

Once students start moving hexagons, start listening. You’ll likely hear students debating, stumbling across insights and making powerful connections. You’ll hear learning.