{"id":2953,"date":"2015-01-31T16:03:48","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T16:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2016-07-15T11:36:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T11:36:25","slug":"using-hexagon-learning-for-categorisation-linkage-and-prioritisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/using-hexagon-learning-for-categorisation-linkage-and-prioritisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Hexagon Learning for categorisation, linkage and prioritisation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Overview<\/h1>\n<h2>Note: I have created an online <a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/hexagon\">hexagons generator<\/a> at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\">ClassTools.net<\/a>.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_3373.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2955 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_3373-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_3373\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_3373-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_3373-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The ability to select, prioritise, categorise and link evidence is a valuable skill that students learn in History. It is also highly transferable to other subjects. Using hexagons is a particularly simple and effective way of developing these skills.<\/p>\n<p>The approach involves providing students with key pieces of information on hexagons. Their job is to organise these into categories of their choice,\u00a0with hexagons being placed adjacent to each other to highlight links between the factors described.<\/p>\n<p>These groups are then glued down onto sugar paper and then the diagram is\u00a0developed with\u00a0titles being written over each category, and arrows being used to connect the different categories and to chart a &#8216;path&#8217; through the diagram. The annotations over these arrows ultimately provide the opening topic sentences for\u00a0each paragraph in the essay that will be the concrete outcome of the activity.<\/p>\n<h2>Taking it further<\/h2>\n<p>The hexagons approach can be developed in a variety of ways, for example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide students with a blank sheet of hexagons (preferably in a different colour) and challenge them to add at least one further point in each of their categories from further research.<\/li>\n<li>Provide students with (or ask them to find) some primary source extracts (written or visual) and challenge them to add a selection of these\u00a0alongside\u00a0some of the categories they have developed.<\/li>\n<li>Ask students to highlight the &#8216;most important \/ interesting&#8217; factor in each category and be prepared to explain their choices to the rest of the class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Hexagon Learning Case Study: The Rise of Stalin<\/h2>\n<p>The ability to select, prioritise, categorise and link evidence is a valuable skill that students learn in History. It is also highly transferable to other subjects.<\/p>\n<p>Using hexagons is a particularly simple and effective way of developing these skills, as the following case study seeks to demonstrate.<\/p>\n<h3>Historical Context<\/h3>\n<p>How Stalin was able to emerge as leader of the USSR against apparently overwhelming odds is one of the most intriguing questions which we study at IB Level. In the years that following the Bolshevik Revolution, due to a series of blunders and miscalculations, Stalin had lost the support of the party leadership: so much so that on his deathbed, Lenin dictated a formal \u2018Testament\u2019 describing Stalin as a liability who needed to be removed from his post. He was also hated by Lenin\u2019s closest ally, Leon Trotsky, who was widely expected to step into the leadership position after Lenin\u2019s death. Yet just five years later Stalin was undisputed leader of the USSR and Trotsky was in exile.<\/p>\n<p>The story of how Stalin transformed his fortunes so dramatically is a great story revolving around Stalin\u2019s treachery, cunning and downright charm. But the danger of this is that the essays that are then written become mere narrative, storybook accounts which do little more than provide a step-by-step account of the main events between 1924-1929.<\/p>\n<h3>The Hexagon Approach<\/h3>\n<p>After a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Russia_and_the_USSR\/USSR_under_Stalin-RISE.htm\">study of the events culminating in Stalin emerging as leader of the party<\/a>, I made a list of factors which could be used to explain why Stalin became dictator of the USSR. I then put these into my\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/solo-hexagons\/\">Classtools.net Hexagons Generator<\/a> to create two single-page documents containing a total of 40 hexagons.<\/p>\n<h4>Stage 1: Selection and Categorisation<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"363\" align=\"right\" \/>The class was divided into pairs for the activity. Each pair of students was given a copy of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/hexagons\/1.docx\"><strong>first<\/strong> sheet of hexagons<\/a>, which they cut up and started to organise on their desks into categories of their choice. This process, involving the categorisation of 25 hexagons, took about 20 minutes. Students were encouraged to come up with no more than five categories overall. They could also choose to leave some of the hexagons to one side if they were considered less important than the others.<\/p>\n<p>We then spent five minutes comparing the different categories that students had identified. Each pair of students took turns to suggest one idea for a category heading until all the ideas had been shared.<\/p>\n<p>Following this, I gave each students a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/hexagons\/3.docx\"><strong>blank<\/strong> sheet of hexagons<\/a>. The challenge was to identify other factors which could help to explain Stalin\u2019s rise to power and write these directly into the hexagons. After five minutes, each pair of students took it in turns to suggest an idea. If this was a valid (and fresh) idea, then the other students copied it into their pair\u2019s version of the sheet, and the students who shared the idea were each given a sweet (we had a bag of these left over as a result of our \u2018Rise of Stalin through sweet-eating\u2019 lesson which had preceded this lesson!). This process was repeated until the students had run out of ideas.<\/p>\n<p>Each pair of students then cut up this new sheet of factors and used them to develop their existing diagrams. In some instances this involved merely adding fresh evidence into existing categories. Sometimes though it involved adding new categories, or amending earlier categories.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, each pair of students was given the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/hexagons\/2.docx\">second<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/hexagons\/2.docx\"> sheet of hexagons<\/a> and the process of categorisation continued.<\/p>\n<h4>Stage 2: Linkage and Prioritisation<\/h4>\n<p>By this stage, the students had decided upon the main factors to explain Stalin\u2019s rise to power, organised into key categories. Each of these categories could form the basis of a paragraph in an essay. However, it was still necessary to decide two things.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"360\" align=\"left\" \/>Firstly<\/strong>, students would need to decide in which order to deal with the points in each paragraph. It would not be enough to simply introduce the category title, then randomly write about each piece of evidence from the hexagons in that group. This is where the hexagons are particularly useful. The six sides mean that factors can be placed alongside each other in various combinations to highlight connections between batches of factors within categories. After students rearranged their factors in this way, they stuck them down onto sugar paper with a glue stick. They could then write the title of each category over each batch of hexagons, and annotate around each group of hexagons to explain why they were arranged in that particulary way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Secondly<\/strong>, students had to decide how to connect their main categories together to create an overall thread of argument. They did this by drawing arrows between the factors and explaining their connections over them. For example:<\/p>\n<p class=\"cent\">\u201cEconomic problems in the country &gt; <em>created<\/em> &gt; Divisions in the party &gt; <em>exploited by<\/em> &gt; Stalin\u2019s Cunning\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Stage 3: Essay preparation<\/h4>\n<p>The final part of the process was to use the completed diagrams as an essay plan. I photographed each of the diagrams and shared them with the students. Their task was to use the diagrams as the basis of their essay on \u201cWhy did Stalin become leader of the USSR?\u201d. Each paragraph was to focus on separate categories of hexagons, and the points made in each paragraph should have some logical order and \u2018flow\u2019. Moreover, the order of the paragraphs should be dictated by the arrows linking the categories, with the opening sentence of each paragraph after the first one being based on the explanation over each arrow.<\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"361\" align=\"right\" \/>Reflections and Conclusions<\/h3>\n<p>The \u2018Hexagon Approach\u2019 worked very well. It steered students away from a narrative approach and into an analytical frame of mind. It helped them frame categories of analyis, build up their command of the material step-by-step. It provided them with the opporunity to easily change their initial assumptions, connect factors together both within and between categories, and give them a very effective basis of an accomplished written piece.<\/p>\n<p>It is also a very simple approach that can be transferred to other topics and other curriculum subjects. All that is needed is an initial list of factors \u2013 contributed either by the teacher or the students \u2013 which can then be written into a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/Miscellaneous\/menus\/A_Level\/Late_Modern\/Stalin_Rise\/hexagons\/3.docx\">blank hexagons template<\/a> or turned into hexagons automatically using my\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/solo-hexagons\/\">Classtools.net Hexagons Generator<\/a>. Thereafter, all that is needed is a pair of scissors, some sugar paper and a glue stick. And, ideally, a bag of sweets!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Taking it further<\/h1>\n<p>John Mitchell (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/jivespin\">@jivespin<\/a>) has written an excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/jivespin.wordpress.com\/2015\/03\/21\/visual-hexagons\/\">blog post<\/a> about &#8220;Visual Hexagons&#8221;, with plenty of interesting ideas.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/img_2799.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3509 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/img_2799.jpg\" alt=\"Processed with Moldiv\" width=\"585\" height=\"650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/img_2799.jpg 585w, https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/img_2799-270x300.jpg 270w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also purchase a hexagon hole puncher on Amazon (although they don&#8217;t deliver to France &#8211; bah!):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-11.28.12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3232\" src=\"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-11.28.12-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 11.28.12\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-11.28.12-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-11.28.12-1024x622.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-11.28.12.jpg 1376w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview Note: I have created an online hexagons generator at ClassTools.net. The ability to select, prioritise, categorise and link evidence is a valuable skill that students learn in History. It is also highly transferable to other subjects. Using hexagons is a particularly simple and effective way of developing these skills. The approach involves providing students [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[448],"tags":[80,78,79,81,82],"class_list":["bg-responsive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4724,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/4724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}