Boost Critical Thinking in the Classroom: 5 Creative Ways to Use Jumbo Hexagonal Thinking Cards in the Classroom
JUMBO hexagonal cards are my new favorite tool in the classroom! My 6th and 7th and 8th graders LOVE them!
A few months ago I was inspired to create a bulletin board display using jumbo hexagonal cards. I got so much positive feedback from students and staff, I decided to create another one but tweak it a little. I decided to laminate my cards and stick magnetic tape to the back of my cards and use my large whiteboard as a display area.
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Unsurprisingly, my middle schoolers were both curious about the cards and eager to manipulate them. Fantastic! It's always exciting to witness students eager to engage with the material, especially when deeper-level thinking skills are being employed.
If you are unfamiliar with how hexagonal thinking works, here is a brief overview. Hexagonal Thinking is a visual tool to help students make connections and organize ideas on a topic. In addition, hexagonal thinking promotes deep thinking about a topic as students both organize content into categories and build connections between different ideas. Students work alone or in small groups to create clusters using their hexagonal cards. Each card contains a vocabulary word, concept, date, image (or anything you would like!). Each card must relate or connect to the cards surrounding it. Each cluster will look different and that is okay!
I use hexagonal thinking activities in my classroom often. I use both small cards and jumbo-sized cards. I use digital cards. I use hexagonal thinking activities as a review and summative assessment. I've even incorporated hexagonal thinking activities into lessons (just to get the kids moving and collaborating!). If I use a hexagonal thinking activity as a formal assessment, I incorporate a writing component (I have written more about how I do this in past blog posts. Click here and here.)
Back to JUMBO cards! My students ask me every day if we are going to use the cards in class. I've decided to tap into this enthusiasm by creating additional sets of jumbo cards for each unit.
5 Easy Ways to Incorporate Jumbo Hexagonal Cards in Your Classroom:
- Collaborative Learning: Use the cards to encourage collaboration and group work. Have students work together to sort and organize the cards to identify patterns and connections, and to present their findings to the class.
- Use the jumbo hexagonal thinking cards to create a visual map of different geographic regions or historical events. Students can use the cards to organize the information and identify patterns or connections between different events or regions.
- Historical Connections: Use the jumbo hexagonal cards to encourage students to draw connections between historical events and ideas.
- Assign two different countries or cultures related to social studies and have students use the jumbo hexagonal thinking cards to compare and contrast different aspects such as language, religion, economy, and government.
- Use jumbo hexagonal thinking cards to make interactive bulletin boards or whiteboard displays!
Mental Health Awareness Jumbo Hexagonal Thinking Cards
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