De Bonos Six Thinking Hats

Often used at the start of a sequence to plan which other hats might be needed or at the end to determine what action is needed.

Used in order to identify facts and information that are already known or which it would be useful to know.

Used to give the person license to explain their emotional response without feeling the need to back this up.

Used to explain the benefits or positives whether or not the person has an Red Hat response to the issue that is positive.

Used to explain the problems or potential problems and can therefore be used positively by helping to identify concerns.

Used to provide new ideas and promote creative thinking. The Green Hat may generate solutions to potential problems.

Thinking Hats Starting Strategies Strategy 1 The Thinking Hats could simply be inserted into the flow of a lesson. If you wanted to know what students thought were the positive aspects to an idea that had been discussed, you would explain that you want to know what the benefits are and that this is Yellow Hat thinking. Alternatively, you might provide some basic information about a proposal and ask students for their immediate feelings about this, indicating that it is Red Hat thinking. Strategy 2 As a means of encouraging students to be more pro-active in the use of Thinking Hats, students could be given card sorts with the six hats on. They would then have the task of using the cards to decide which of the Thinking Hats were needed for an issue and which sequence these Thinking Hats would best be considered in. Strategy 3 Using a PowerPoint presentation to visually indicate when students should move from one Thinking Hat to the next can be an effective strategy. You can influence the amount of time spent thinking using a particular Hat and can therefore encourage students to think more deeply about an issue, rather than instantly rushing through the process. Strategy 4 If providing students with a recording frame to make notes about their thinking means less discussion and one student jotting down their thoughts, specify that no pens are allowed in hands as the time for discussion is completed. At the end of the period wearing a particular hat, students could then be allowed a short period for the specific purpose of making notes. Alternatively, a non-speaking recorder could be identified in each group this student would not be contributing to the discussion and would make notes on what the other students say. Strategy 5 Depending on the students (and the teacher) it might be that the use of physical Thinking Hats works very well and serves to engage student interest further. Whilst there is symbolism in the choice of hats to represent the different kinds of thinking (the idea that they can readily be take on and off and the obvious link with the brains thinking cap), alternative objects could perhaps be used. For example, in P.E. coloured bibs could be used to represent the different kinds of thinking. Strategy 6 There are some Thinking Hats that lend themselves to more complex thinking than others. For instances, the Green Thinking Hat is generally considered to be the most challenging, whilst the White Hat often leads to more straightforward thinking. As a means of differentiation, you might gradually build the complexity of thinking that you are asking from a class, by carefully selecting when to introduce each Thinking Hat.