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Lesson
Hexagonal Thinking Activity #1 Subject Social Studies 8
Title/Focus

PROGRAM OF STUDY OUTCOMES

General Outcome
8.2 Origins of a Western Worldview
Specific Outcome
8.2.2 demonstrate a willingness to consider differing beliefs, values, and worldviews (C, I)
8.2.3 recognize how beliefs and values are shaped by time, geographic location, and societal context (C,
TCC, LPP)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. Utilize vocabulary words to create connections
2. Describe these connections
ASSESSMENT
● Formative: Health and Hygiene Review
● Formative: Hexagonal Activity

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

● Chromebooks
● Fill in the note’s booklets
● Hexagonal pieces and/or virtual hexagonal activity

PREPARATION AND LOGISTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

● Assignment needs to be posted on Google Classroom
● Chromebooks need to be booked
● Hexagonal pieces borrowed from Mrs. Swen

PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
● Students enter in for first class in the morning 10 min
● Have students pick up a Fill in the Blank booklet
● Students need to sign out a Chromebook
● Oh Canada
● Announcements
● Attendance
● Review of Health & Hygiene:
● What were some myths or superstitions that people believed? The disease was
spread by bad odors, resulting from sins of the soul
● How did they seek relief? Mediation, prayer, pilgrimages
● What was the belief about the body and how it related to the universe? The 4
humors, or body fluids, related to the 4 elements
● What were the 4 humors?
● Yellow Bile (made in liver to help digest) = Fire
● Phlegm (mucus) = Water
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● Black Bile (they believed caused sadness, not actually a real thing) = Earth
● Blood = Air
● What was the relationship between these humors? If one built up, it would cause
illness
● How was balance maintained? Sweat, tears, feces, urine
● What would doctors do if those didn’t work? Checking urine, pulse, blood
samples, laxatives, hot baths, fumigation (hot gases), cauterization (burn tissue)
● What was the most common form of surgery? Bloodletting – cutting the patient
and letting them bleed to ‘release’ the impure fluids

Body Time
Lecture ● Have students grab their fill-in-the-blank notes
● Complete slides 16-24 of the PowerPoint
● Give students time to write down the blanks before
speaking
● Make sure students know that they can ask to slow down 15 min
at any point
● Use filled in note booklet to prepare questions to extend
learning for students

Hexagonal On the third slide there is a list of events, people, places, and 30 min
Thinking Activity concepts we have learned about. You will use these to create a
web that shows your thinking about the following question:

To what extent did the events and way of life shape the people
of the medieval period?

Hexagons have 6 sides. Each side can be a connection. This

means there are 6 possible connections for each hexagon. There is
no right or wrong answer, this is about using critical thinking to
share how you understand the connections.

1. Drag any of the terms from the left side onto the hexagon
shapes. 
2. Rearrange them as much as you want as you think about
the connections.
3. You only have 10 hexagons, so you will have to choose
which of the terms best answer the question for you.
4. You can move the hexagons if you need to. Each side
where two hexagons meet should be a connection.
5. When you are done connecting terms and hexagons, move
the 3 arrows so they point at 3 different connections. This
could be a connection between many hexagons, or just 2.
6. Use slides 3, 4 and 5 to explain why you chose these
connections in 3-5 sentences.
Terms:
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● Peasants
● Nobles
● Knights
● Serfs
● Church
● Black Plague
● Trade
● Medicine
● Manors
● Feudalism
● Monarchy
● Hygiene
● Britain
● Sanitation
● Agriculture
● Spain
● 100 years’ war
● Italy
● Joan of Arc
● Great Schism
● Jan Hus
● Geography
● Society
● Values Economy
● Knowledge
● Hierarchy
● Humors
● France
● Time
● Towns
● Freeman
● Beliefs
● Students can request to add more terms to their list, but it
MUST be approved beforehand

If finished ● Students need to submit the following:

● Hierarchy Review
● Editorial assignment
Conclusion Time
● Students can put their Chromebook away
● A lead into next class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Feosp-ck4u8

5 min
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Reflection

● Overall this lesson went really well

● A majority of students had previously done this type of activity in Grade 7 which
made explanation very easy and they were willing to help out some of the new
students
● What I really appreciated about this activity is that it allowed me to see the
different perspectives and understanding that students had on the major concepts
in the unit by looking at the connections they made
● I was relatively happy and surprised with some of the in-depth connections some
students made
● This is an activity I would incorporate in the future because it can be adapted to a
variety of subjects and topics
● This could also become a summative assessment in the future if I wanted to mark
the students connections, and it would also allow students to discuss topics that
they feel the most confident about which gives them a greater chance at success

Additional Notes: