Connecting the Dots

NAPLES, Italy – Classrooms at Naples Middle High School and Livorno Elementary Middle School students huddled over clusters of hexagon-shaped cards - debating, rearranging, and defending their thinking.

Hexagonal Thinking asks students to connect ideas rather than study them in isolation. Each hexagon represents a concept economic, political, or social, and students must decide how those ideas relate. The activity also emphasized verbal reasoning, with students defending their hexagon arrangements in structured academic conversations.

Across both schools, the approach was intentionally implemented from middle school through advanced high school courses, creating a vertically aligned learning experience.

The work was co-planned and co-taught across Naples Middle High School and Livorno Elementary Middle School between teachers Ms. Janie O’Leary (Naples), Ms. Nicole Kohn Lami (Livorno) and ISS 6-12 for Social Studies, Alicia Sexton, and highlights a strong example of collaboration across Europe South.

In 8th and 11th grade classrooms, students used hexagons to map out key elements of the Great Depression, including the Stock Market Crash, Dust Bowl, unemployment, and New Deal programs. Working in small groups, students discussed where to place each term and, more importantly, why.

At Livorno EMS, 6th grade students used Hexagonal Thinking to connect a wide range of concepts related to Ancient Greece. Students collaborated in groups and connected ideas, often discovering multiple ways concepts could relate. A single hexagon might connect to several others, prompting students to explain their reasoning and reconsider their thinking as discussions evolved.

Rather than simply identifying events, students were asked to justify their reasoning. As one student explained during the activity, “We connected the Dust Bowl to migration because people had to leave their homes, but it also connects to unemployment because they couldn’t find work.”

Teachers noted that all students were actively engaged, with conversations grounded in evidence and reasoning rather than guesswork. Once completed, students conducted a gallery walk to see the ways in which other groups connected the ideas and shared out their notices and wonders.

In Advanced Placement United States History classrooms, Hexagonal Thinking was used as part of a Unit 7 review, covering the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II mobilization. Instead of traditional review packets, students synthesized major themes and connected events across time periods. Discussions mirrored the type of thinking required on AP exams, as students justified relationships between policies, economic shifts, and societal changes.

Collaboration Across Schools Strengthens Instruction

By aligning instructional strategies across grade levels, teachers created a consistent approach to building critical thinking skills from middle school through advanced coursework.

As classrooms continue to shift toward student-centered instruction, strategies like Hexagonal Thinking offer a practical way to increase rigor without increasing complexity for teachers. By focusing on connections, justification, and discussion, students are not only learning history, but they are also learning how to think.

And in classrooms across Europe South, that shift is already underway.