This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 154 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we're going to look at a discussion strategy that may be new to you,

called hexagonal thinking.

This week's going to be nice and simple.

We are just going to be looking at an interesting discussion strategy that you may not have tried,

but could work in a lot of different subject areas and grade levels.

It's called hexagonal thinking, where students work together to arrange a deck of hexagon-shaped

cards, each of which has a different key word or phrase written on it, and then they explain

their arrangement.

This simple strategy encourages divergent and critical thinking.

It offers lots of opportunity for informal debate and collaboration, and it can work in person

or virtually.

This is the second time my guest, Betsy Podash, has been on the show.

On her website Spark Creativity and her Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, Betsy specializes

in fresh approaches for getting students to explore ideas and share them, usually in a

way that's visually striking, interactive, or hands-on.

Every time I hear one of Betsy's ideas, I imagine hundreds of teachers hearing them

too and thinking, ooh, I want to try that.

Although her stuff is typically directed at English teachers, some of it, like what we

talk about today, is applicable across the content areas.

During her last visit in episode 122, we talked about all the different uses for one-pagers.

Today we'll talk about hexagonal thinking.

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