So effective learning is effective learning. Visual representations of learning are a powerful way to extract, externalise and extrapolate knowledge into a tangible form in order to make meaning and ‘connect the new with what we already knew’ (Borthwick 2016).

Hexagonal thinking is a process that we use with our learners, young and old, to both convey learning and amalgam ideas and thoughts into new learning. It is a system where the learner sorts, classifies, purges and makes links in order to find a problem to solve.

As Hook explains, Hexagons can be used to determine a learner’s depth of prior knowledge and understanding before starting to learn. It can also be used as a learning experience prompt to increase and demonstrate depth of understanding, and to create new learning by introducing hexagons with additional content – ideas, symbols, images etc.

Students find that by using the hexagonal thinking strategy they are able to articulate their learning in a more coherent and ordered manner – and this is just at the surface level. The process is multi-layered in that the learner commences the process with one relevant idea and moves to collating several relevant ideas.

The next stage is making connections between ideas and explaining why these connections exist. The final stage of this process is where the learner can make generalisations about their linked ideas and identify an area of inquiry or where new learning needs to occur. At this point the learner puts aside other outcome clusters in order to converge their thinking and focus on the problem at hand. The hexagonal thinking tool is powerful in that problems of practice can be identified, compared to a previously unconscious incompetence knowledge set.

Our thinking has always been provoked around the constraints of the hexagon itself and around the ‘equal weight bearing’ of sides (links) through hexagon tessellation. With the insight of one of our colleagues Lauren Johns, we have been toying with the idea of another conceptually similar prototype, this time with the use of triangles.

“Triangular thinking is similar to hexagonal thinking in that key thoughts and ideas are written down in order to externalise thinking. The process of triangular thinking is more fluid in that the sides of triangles are slid alongside each other in order to make connections but the level of linkage can be shown by the weight bearing of how connected the two sides are. A large tessellation indicates a strong connection whereas a small tessellation indicates a small link or connection. Of course, all connections need to be articulated by the learner in order for them to make meaning” – Lauren Johns

In conclusion, we find both hexagonal and triangular thinking to have a direct impact on learning. It is powerful in that it is a dynamic tool in order to cohere learning. Our learners are able to articulate their thinking at a higher level and are better equipped to connect the ‘new with what we already knew’.