You might have heard of de Bono's six thinking hats before and you might have also wanted to use it as a learning tool in your class.
videoDepending on the level, students can deal with different situations from other perspectives. Each thinking hat represents a unique thinking perspective and it will help your students explore different viewpoints related to a problem.
You will get an idea here:presentation
Working with the hats will help students improve their critical thinking and will lead to fruitful discussions.
It's ideal for problem solving, group work, brainstorming and story creating...
But how could this be introduced in class ?
Through a story of course!
Roy The Rat is a story I found online By Angeliki Voreopoulou and introduces the idea in such a simple and clever way!
You can read it here:Roy the Rat by Angeliki Voreopoulou
After reading in class , dramatizing will give students a deeper understanding of the whole idea.
So bring a box in class and six caps.
When the rat puts on the white cap , he says : Where are we now? What is this?What do I know about it?
When he puts on the red cap his feelings appear: I want it! I don't care! I m not afraid!
When he puts on the black cap bad feelings come and go...oh no! It's a poisonous snake!It's risky!
When he puts on the yellow cap he thinks positive...Such a lovely box, it can't hide anything dangerous!
When he puts on the blue cap he says: Let's get organized! What are the best ways to open it?
Finally he puts on the green cap and lots of creative ideas flashed into his mind!
He made a plan and it was perfect!
Make sure the students understand what each hat represents!
And then, a good idea is to role play!This way, their communication skills will improve and ideas, opinions will be exchanged!
Providing your students with different situations will promote group work and participation in class!
Role play
This activity could work well with different groups of 6 students. Each student puts on a hat(you can make headbands too) and they all deal with a situation but react differently according to the hat's perspective.
Each group has a different situation and after they discuss it in groups , they come up and present!
Examples of situations:
- new decoration for your bedroom
- a present for your mum's birthday
- family trip
- organise a surprise party for your friend's birthday
- what will happen at the weekend?
Literature
de Bono's technique could work wonders with character analysis and stories/books you are probably using.
Which hat is the character using in this particular situation?
How would he react in case he wore a different hat?
Extension
Everyone thinks differently! To extend this idea, the story of the elephant and the blind men is relevant!
